Making A Composite Model
Step 1 - Enter the SimXpert Structures Workspace.
1) Click Structures.
Step 2 - Specify English units.
1) Select Tools and click on Options.
2) Highlight Units Manager…
3) Click on Standard Units.
4) Scroll down and select the line with units in, lb, s,….
5) Click OK.
Step 3 - Specify to display LBC values.
1) Under Workspaces, expand Structures then Entity Options.
2) Highlight FEA Symbols Structures.
3) For Labels, select None and check Show LBC Value4) Click OK on the User Options form.
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Step 4- Create a 5”x1” geometric surface to represent the plate
1) Under the Geometry tab, select Filler from the Surface group.
2) Click on points.
3) Click in the Entities text box. And enter 0,0,0;5,0,0;5,1,0;0,1,0.
4) Hit enter then Click OKon the Filler form.
5) Click Fill on the View Manipulation toolbar.
Step 5 - Specify an isotropic material for Aluminum.
1) Under the Materials and Properties tab, select Isotropic from the Material group.
2) Enter Aluminum for Name.
3) Enter 10e6 for Young’s Modulus.
4) Enter 10e6 for Young’s Modulus.
5) Click OK.
Step 6 - Create a 2D shell property with thickness = 0.1 and apply it to the geometry.
1) Click on Shell in the 2D Properties group.
2) Enter Al Plate for Name.
3) Click in the Entities text box, Select the surface.
4) Click in the Material text box then select Aluminum from the Model Browser.
5) Click in the Part thickness text box and enter 0.1.
6) Click OK.
Step 7 - Mesh the surface with plate elements using an element size of 0.33.
1) Under the Meshing tab, select Surface from the Automesh group.
2) For Surface to mesh select the surface in the window.
3) Click OK. .
Step 8 - Apply a constant tip load of 8 lbf to a corner of the plate.
1) Under the LBCs tab, select Force from the Loads group.
2) For Name enter 8 lb.
3) Click in the Entities text box and select the node at the far right corner as shown.
4) For Magnitude enter 8.
5) The direction of the force is in the negative z-direction. Enter -1 in Direction-Z text box.
6) Click OK.
7) Turn On Detailed Rendering.
Step 9 - Constrain the opposite end of the plate.
1) Select Fixed from the Constraints group.
2) Enter Fixed for Name.
3) Click in the Entities text box.
4) Select Pick Curves from the Pick Filters.
5) Click on the Pick Nodes icon on the Pick Filters to deselect.
6) Select the curve at the left end of the plate.
7) Click OK.
Step 10 - Set up and perform an analysis: Solution Type = Linear Static, Solution Sequence = 101.
1) Right click on FileSet and select Create new Nastran job.
2) Click on the folder icon for Solver Input File. Navigate to a location to save the analysis files.
3) Click OK.
4) Right click NewJob and select Run.
Step 11 - Attach the Results
1) Select File then choose Attach Results.
2) Click the folder icon.
3) Navigate to and select the file newjob.xdb.
4) Click Open.
5) Select Results for Attach Options.
6) Click OK.
Step 12 - Plot Displacement Results
1) Under the Results tab, select Deformation from the Results group.
2) Select the Result Case.
3) For Result Type select Displacements, Translational.
4) Click the Deformation tab.
5) Check Show undeformed.
6) Click Update.
Step 13 - Plot Stress Results
1) Click Hide.
2) Click the Plot Data tab.
3) Pull down Plot type to Fringe.
4) Select Stress Tensor for Result Type.
5) Select von Mises for Derivation.
6) Click Update.
