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Press Fit of Cylindrical Pin in Square Plate (with

Pull Out)
Problem/Description:

There are many applications in mechanical engineering that involve simulating an interference fit between
a cylindrical part and a mating body. Some common examples are shaft and hole interference, or pins
that are held in place by friction.

In ANSYS, there are a couple of ways to model interference fits. One way is to model the shaft and hole
as having the same geometric radius. A contact "interface treatment" (e.g., offset) is applied so that the
contact elements penetrate the target face, thereby mimicking the interference effect. Alternatively, it is
possible to incorporate the geometric interference in a CAD model, and then allow the contact formulation
to resolve the interference.

In this KR, we will present an example of resolving geometric interference using contact elements. For an
example of applying interface treatments to simulate interference, please refer to Lecture 2 of the ANSYS
Mechanical Advanced Connections training course.

Model:
The geometry used in this model is shown in Figure 1. There is a small interference of 0.01mm between
the cylindrical body and the hole in the square block.

Figure 1. Block and Cylinder Geometry Containing Interference

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Using the Clash Detection Tool in ANSYS DesignModeler, we can see the volume of material that
corresponds to the interference between the two bodies. The is the region indicated by the red "Clash"
flag in Figure 2. Rather than correct this clash in DesignModeler, we will instead use nonlinear contact in
ANSYS Mechanical to resolve the penetration.

Figure 2. Geometric Interference Detected using DM Clash Detection Tool

Since the body shown in Figure 1 is 1/4th the entire geometry of interest, a Cyclic Symmetry object was
inserted in ANSYS Mechanical. The High (Red) and Low (Blue) boundaries are indicated in Figure 3.
After solving, ANSYS will automatically expand the results for the quarter-model, and display them on the
full geometry.

Figure 3. Cyclic Symmetry Applied to Model Faces

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Solution
If we were performing an experiment on an actual part, we would do so in two steps. First, we would
press fit the cylinder into the hole. Second, we would apply force to the pin to pull it out. Similarly, our
analysis is divided into two load steps.

Load Step 1: Resolve Press Fit

The first stage of our analysis is to resolve the geometric interference between the cylinder and the hole.
A frictional contact pair was defined between the two bodies, the details of which are shown in Figure 4. A
static coefficient of friction of 0.2 was set. In addition, the Normal Stiffness Factor was reduced to 0.1 to
aid convergence. All other options were left as default.

Figure 4. Details of Frictional Contact Pair

Load Step 2: Pull Pin

Having resolved the press fit in the first load step, we now apply a fixed displacement of 1.7mm in the Z-
direction to the end of the pin. A Fixed Support boundary condition (active in Load Step 1) was applied to
the -X face of the block.

While the solver is able to converge in one substep for the press fit conditions, the pulling operation is
more susceptible to divergence. Therefore, auto time stepping was activated in Load Step 2 with 100
substeps initially, a minimum of 10, and a maximum of 10000.

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 Figure 5. Applied Fixed Support and Displacement Boundary Conditions

Results

Figure 6 is a plot of equivalent stress at the end of Load Step 1. The maximum stress due to the press fit
is about 79kPa. The slight rises in stress above zero at the cyclic boundaries are due to large deflection
effects interacting with the cyclic symmetry condition.

Figure 6. Equivalent Stress Due to Press Fit

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Figure 7 shows the Z-direction deformation of the model after Load Step 2 completes. The block remains
fixed, while the pin body is displaced by 1.7mm, removing it from the hole.

Figure 7. Z-direction Deformation Showing Pin Pullout

Finally, Figure 8 is a plot of Z-direction reaction force at the applied displacement boundary condition. The
reaction force is a maximum of 0.213N until the pin begins to slide in the hole. As the pin slides out of the
hole, the resistance due to friction decreases. Eventually, the reaction force drops to zero.

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 Figure 8. Reaction Force at Displacement Boundary Condition

Attachments:

1. Press_Fit_Example.wbpz

2015 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.