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PERFORMING EKILL ELEMENT DEATH IN AN ANSYS WORKBENCH

MECHANICAL MODEL
PostedinTips&TricksFiniteElementAnalysis(FEA)articles(/tipsandtricks/feaarticles)

WhenrunningstructuralmodelsinANSYSWorkbenchMechanical,userssometimeswanttoperformelementbirthanddeathbetweenload
steps.AlthoughtheMechanicalAPDLinterfacepermitsbirthanddeath,itisnotdirectlysupportedintheWorkbenchinterface.

AnAPDLCommandsObjectcanbeinsertedinastructuralenvironmenttoconsiderthecurrentstateofamodelateachloadstep,andto
performanEKILLcommandbasedoncurrentelementresults,loadstepnumber,orothercriteria.Theexampleinthisarticleconsidersequivalent
stressasacriterionforkillingelements.Inothersituations,theloadstepatwhichelementbirthordeathshouldtakeplaceisknowninadvance.
TheelementscanbeselectedbyreferringtoanelementNamedSelectionattherighttime,andperformingEKILLorEALIVE,asappropriate.A
nullloadstep(singlesubstepsolvewithnochangeinloading)issuggestedforpreplannedelementbirthordeathataknownloadstep.
Inordertoidentifythebodyorbodiesinamodelthataretobecheckedforelementbirthordeath,aNamedSelectionofoneormorebodiescan
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becreated.ThenameusedshouldbecompatiblewiththerulesforComponentnamesinAPDL.Startwithaletter,useonlyletters,digitsand
underscores,andusenomorethan32characters:


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Itiseasiertoevaluatethestateofelementsinamodelwhileremaininginsidethe/SOLUsolutionprocessorinANSYS.Ifreviewofresultsis
doneinthe/POST1processor,thenrestartshavetobeexecutedinordertocontinuethesolution,introducingcomplexities,writingfilestothe
harddrive,andincreasingsolutiontime.InWorkbenchMechanical,inordertoreducememoryanddiskspaceused,commandsareexecutedin
thebackgroundANSYSBatchjobtopreventdatabaseinformationfrombeingwrittenintotheinmemorydatabase.Writingdatatotheinmemory
databasehastobereenabledbeforethefirstSOLVEcommandinordertocheckresultswithoutleavingthe/SOLUsolutionprocessor.

AusercouldcreateanAPDLCommandsObjecttoexecutethecommandtosaveresultsintheinmemorydatabase.Thecommandscouldbein
aspecialobjectthatexecutesbeforethefirstloadstepSOLVE,oritcouldbeinanobjectthatcheckswhetherthefirstloadstepisaboutto
execute,andgivesthecommandonlyinthefirststep.Theapproachinthisexampleistocheckwhetherthefirstloadstepisabouttosolve,and
tocommandresultstobewrittenintotheinmemorydatabaseonlywhenthefirstloadstepisabouttoexecute.Thecommandstowritesolution
dataare:

fini
/config,noeldb,0!writeresultsintothedatabase
/solu!continuewithsolution

TheAPDLexamplebelow,whichchecksforloadstepnumber,executesthecommandtowriteresultsintothedatabaseifthefirstloadstepis
abouttobetaken.Otherwise,itselectsnodeswithstressesaboveastatedlevel,andkillselementsattachedtothosenodes.TheAPDL
CommandsObjectissettoexecuteateveryanalysisloadsteptaken:

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Hereisthesetofcommandsthatexecutes.UsersmightinputthelowerlevelofthecheckonstresseswithaninputargumenttotheCommands
Objectifdesired.

!killelementsforwhichnodeshavevaluesaboveadesignatedvalue...
!
/com,#############################################
/com,#
*get,myncmls,active,,solu,ncmls!cumulativenumberofloadsteps
*if,myncmls,gt,0,then!ifthisisafterthefirst
 cmsel,s,elem_to_kill_body!ELEMENTcomponenttobechecked
nsle!nodesontheseelements (h
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SELTOL,1.0e12!staywithinrangebelow
!#########
nsel,r,s,eqv,230,2000000!reselectnodeswithresultsaboveavalue<<<
!#########
SELTOL!selectiontolerancebacktodefault
*get,numnode,node,,count!howmanynodeswithresultabove?
*if,numnode,gt,0,then
esln!elementswithanynodeselected
*get,numelem,elem,,count
*if,numelem,gt,0,then
ekill,all
*endif
*endif
allsel
*else
!iffirstloadstep,haveresultwrittentoinmemorydatabase
fini
/config,noeldb,0!writeresultsintothedatabase
/solu!continuewithsolution
*endif
/com,#
/com,#############################################
!

Intheabovecommands,notetheSELTOLcommandthatensuresthatthetoleranceonthesetofstressesenteredwillbetight.Theupperlimit
onthestressesisexpectedtobewellaboveanystressproducedinthismodel.TheUnitsinthismodelaremillimeters,sothestressvaluesare
inMPa.WhenusingAPDLCommandsObjects,usersmustbeverycarefulthatappropriateunitsareentered,andchosenforsolutionofthe
model.
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Notethecommandthatcheckshowmanyloadstepshavebeenexecutedpriortothecurrentloadstep:

*get,myncmls,active,,solu,ncmls!cumulativenumberofloadsteps

Thisishowthecheckisdoneastowhetherthefirstloadstepisabouttosolve,inwhichcasethe/CONFIGcommandisexecutedforthis
particularanalysis.

Inthisway,ausercanincludeacheckforelementdeathateveryloadstep.Thecheckscanonlybeperformedattheendsofloadsteps,so
usersmaywanttousemanyloadsteps,withloadsincreasinggraduallyoverthoseloadsteps.Belowisanexamplethatuses20loadsteps:


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Loadscanuseformulastomakethenincreasegradually,forexample,overthe20secondsabove,adisplacementisrampedupaccordingtothe
formulaYcomponent=time*0.05.Theunitsherearemillimeters:

Inthisway,thestresseswillbechecked20timesasloadsareincreased,andelementskilledwhentheirstressexceedsthelimitusedinthe
NSELcommand.Ofcourse,elementdeathlikethiscausesasolutiontobenonlinear,andmodelconvergenceisleftasachallengefortheuser.
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Inothertypesofanalysis,aparticularloadstepcouldbechosenasthetimeforanEKILLorEALIVEcommandtobeexecutedforselected
elementsthatareindicatedwithaNamedSelection.Inthisway,certainconstructionsequencestepscouldbeincludedinananalysis.Recallthat
elementdeathandbirthannealstheelementssothattheycontainnostresseswhentheyarebroughttolife,whichcouldcapturethe
solidificationofaweld,concrete,epoxy,orthecomingintoexistenceofsomesortofspringorboltconnection.Ensurethatthefirstloadstepkills
theelementsthataretobebroughttolifelater.No/CONFIGcommandisrequiredinsuchacase,ofcourse.

WehopethatyoucanmakeproductiveuseofelementbirthanddeathinyourWorkbenchMechanicalmodels.

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