Finiteelementanalysisofaconoidshell P.C.J.

Hoogenboom,21May2015

InstallSCIAEngineeronyourcomputer.
Youcandownloadthesoftwareforfreefromhttp://www.sciacampus.com.

Notethatyoucanselectashelltemplate;forexampleasphericalcap.
Wewillnotdothistoday.Wewilldrawtheshellourselves.Doubleclickonanalysis.


Choosingtheadvancedlevelmakesextramenuitemsvisible.
(Insomecompaniestheengineersarenotallowedtodoadvancedlevelcomputations.)

Everyfiniteelementprogramconsistsofthreeparts.
1)Drawingthestructure(preprocessing)
2)Performingtheanalysis
3)Displayingtheresults(postprocessing)
Theprojecttree(mainwindow)showsthesestepsandextrasubsteps.
Morestepswillbecomevisiblewhenananalysishasbeenperformed.

Wefirstenter5poin
ntsfordrawingtheconoidshell.

Theshellisa12mmsteelplate.

ClickonthenodesN1,N2,N3,N4.
ClickonNewcirculararch.

ClickonthenodesN5andN6.
Clickwithrightmousebuttonandclickonend.

Theshellissupportedbyfixingthestraightedges.

Clickonthestraightedges.

Clickwiththerightmousebuttonandclickend.

Oneloadcaseisalreadypresent:Selfweight.Weaddaloadcase:Snow.

Nowwecanenterthesnowload:2kN/m2

WemakealoadcombinationsinwhichbothSelfweightandSnowoccuratthesametime.
(Safetyfactorsarenotused.)

Wefirstperformalinearelasticanalysis.

Letslookattheresults.

Deflectionduetotheloadcombination.

Thedeflectionislargestintheflatpartoftheshell.Itisjust2.1mmwhichissurelyacceptable.

Themeshisshowntoo.Theelementsmaybetoolarge.Letschoosesmallerelements.

Nowdothelinearelasticanalysisagain.

Thenewdeflectionis2.3mm.Thedifferenceisacceptablebecausewedonotneedtoknowthe
deflectionveryaccurately.ApparentlythepreciousmeshwasOKforthedisplacements.

Inthepicturebelowthemeshisnotdisplayed.ThiscanbeselectedinDrawingsetup2D.

LetslookattheVonMisesstresses.

Inmostoftheshellthestressisalmostzero.
Thelargeststressesoccurattheedges(edgedisturbance).
Alargeststressof20.2N/mm2isnotmuch.
Probablytheshellcanbedesignedmuchthinner.


Letsreducetheelementsizetochecktheaccuracy.Itisreducedfrom0.10mto0.05m

Thenewlinearelasticcalculationtakesafewminutesthistime.

ThenewVonMisesstressis20.3N/mm2.Thedifferenceisjust0.1N/mm2.Sotheerrorthatwe
makeis0.1N/mm2or0.5%whichismuchsmallerthannecessary.Inthefollowingcomputationswe
willworkwith0.1melements.

Letscheckbuckling.Firstweneedtomakebucklingvisibleinthemenu.

Nowweneedtodefinestabilityloadcombinations.

(Theteacherdoesnotunderstandwhythesoftwaredoesnotusethenormalloadcombinationsfor
stabilityanalysistoo.Perhapsthisextrastepwillberemovedinfuturesoftwareversions.)

Nowwecanperformthebucklinganalysis.

Letslookattheresults.

Firstbucklingmode:

Itbucklesinthisshapewhentheloadcombinationismultipliedwithaloadfactorof7.39.

Secondbucklingmode:Loadfactor7.49.

Thirdbucklingmode:Loadfactor10.32.
Forthbucklingmode:Loadfactor10.51.

Theprogramhascomputedthe4smallestbucklingmodes.Ifyouwanttoseemoremodesthanyou
canselectthisjustbeforestartingthebucklinganalysis.

Thefirsttwobucklingloadfactorsarealmostthesame.Thisisasignofimperfectionsensitivity.
Nevertheless,theteacherexpectsthatthisshellisnotsensitivetoimperfections.Thereasonforthis
isthatthebucklingmodeslooklikeinextensionaldeformation.Moreover,oftensomeofthe
bucklingloadfactorsarethesameduetosymmetryofastructure.Probably,theknockdownfactor
of1/6doesnotneedtobeapplied.Anyhow,withorwithoutaknockdownfactorthisshellissafe
becausethebucklingloadfactorsarelargerthan6.

Clearly,anedgebeamwouldpreventthesebucklingmodes.Withanedgebeamtheshellcouldbe
muchthinner.

Letslookatthenaturalfrequencies.Firstweneedtomakedynamicsvisibleinthemenu.

Nowweneedtoaddmasstothestructure.

(Theprogramalreadyknowsaboutthemassofthematerialsbutitdoesnotknowthemassofthe
thingsweputonthestructure.)
Letsstudytheshellwithoutanyextramass.
ThemassofthematerialsisinsomethingcalledMG1.
Wemakeamasscombinationofjustthismass.

Nowwecancomputethenaturalfrequencies.

Letslookattheresults.

Thefirstvibrationmode:Thenaturalfrequencyis8.36Hz.

Secondvibrationmode:Naturalfrequency8.36Hztoo.

Thirdvibrationmode:Naturalfrequency12.12Hz.
Fourthvibrationmode:Naturalfrequency12.19Hz.

Theprogramhascomputedthe4smallestnaturalfrequencies.Ifyouwanttoseemoreyoucan
selectthisjustbeforestartingthecomputation.

Thisshellisnotsensitivetowindloadingbecausewindgustshaveafrequencyofapproximately1Hz
orsmaller.
Thisshellissensitivetoearthquakes.Itwouldnotbeinsensitivetoearthquakesifthenatural
frequencieswouldbelargerthan10Hz.

SCIAcanalsodononlinearanalyses.

Itincreasedtheloadinincrements.
Aftereveryincrementsomeiterationareperformedtofindequilibrium.
After20incrementsthewholeloadcombinationwasonthestructure.
Itcontinuedincrementinguntiltheiterationsdonotfindequilibrium.
Often,thisisthemaximumload.
Atthatmomenttheloadfactorwas126/20=6.30

Thenextstepistoaddimperfectionstotheshellshape,forexamplethebucklingmodewithan
amplitudeofhalftheshellthickness.However,theteacherdoesnotknowhowtodothisinSCIA
Engineerasyet.Itshouldbepossible.