Resources

  • Finite Elements for Thermoelectric Device Analysis in ANSYS

    Elena Antonova and David Looman

    "A new set of ANSYS coupled-field elements enables users to accurately and efficiently analyze thermoelectric devices. This paper reviews the finite element formulation, which, in addition to Joule heating, includes Seebeck, Peltier, and Thomson effects. Examples of steady-state and transient simulations of a thermoelectric generator and a single-stage Peltier cooler are presented for thermoelectric analysis verification. An analysis of a multistage thermoelectric cooler is performed to demonstrate ANSYS parametric analysis capability."

  • First Micromachined Silicon Load Cell for Loads up to 1000 kg

    Henk Wensink, Meint J. de Boer, Remco J. Wiegerink, Robert A.F. Zwijze, Miko C. Elwenspoek

    "In this paper, a bulk micromachined silicon load cell is presented, designed for loads up to 1000 kg. ANSYS simulations were used to determine the load cell dimensions and strain gauge positions."

  • Flip Chip Reliability Modeling Based on Solder Fatigue as Applied to Flip Chip on Laminate Assemblies

    Scott Popelar, Michael Roesch

    "A 63Sn/Pb solder fatigue model has been previously developed based on a correlation of flip chip solder fatigue data combined with nonlinear finite element analysis. This model has been successfully applied in the prediction of PBGA and CSP fatigue lives as well as a parametric study investigating the reliability of flip chip assemblies and the influence of specific design parameters. In this investigation, flip chip reliability predictions are generated based on solder fatigue modeling and compared to actual thermal cycling reliability data. The influence of both solder fatigue and underfill delamination are considered in interpretation of the experimental data."

  • Flotran Enhancements at 6.0 [PDF]

    Sheldon Imaoka (ANSYS, Inc.)

    "There have been several enhancements to Flotran at 6.0. These changes include more robust default settings, an additional advection scheme, a new coupling algorithm, and improvements to the ALE mesh morpher."

  • Formatting output text of results (PRxxxx family of commands) [PDF]

    Sheldon Imaoka (CSI)

    This memo outlines some of the options available in ANSYS to produce and to format output listings: (1) the use of the /FORMAT statement with the PRxxxx series of commands and (2) the application of *VWRITE to create custom output. This memo outlines some of the options available in ANSYS to produce and to format output listings: (1) the use of the /FORMAT statement with the PRxxxx series of commands and (2) the application of *VWRITE to create custom output.

  • Fully Automatic Adaptive Mesh Refinement Integrated into the Solution Process

    Joseph R. Tristano, Zhijan Chen, D. Alfred Hancq, Wa Kwok

    "Finite element analysts and designers need to feel confident in the results of their analyses before sending a product to prototype or production. Mesh discretization can greatly influence the desired results. In this paper we present framework for adaptive mesh refinement to obtain FEA results with a desired accuracy. The process involves adaptively refining the mesh based on solution error norms until the result desired converges to certain accuracy. The adaptive refinement/meshing process must be fully automatic and very robust. We present an exhaustive method to create a fully automatic and integrated process that takes advantage of many of the mesh refinement and mesh optimization algorithms found in literature. The results of the process provide the user with the desired accuracy in the smallest number of iterations possible."

    [Workbench Simulation, version 7.1]

  • Gasket Materials

    (ANSYS, Inc.)

    Presentation on the gasket materials and companion interface elements, introduced at ANSYS 6.1 (part of the "Advanced Analysis with ANSYS" seminar during the 2002 User's Conference).

  • General ANSYS Tips (5.5)

    Carl Howard (University of Adelaide)

    Where to get help
    Insufficient disk space
    Bulk compression mode
    Choice of solver
    Element Normals
    Boolean operations on solid models
    Meshing
    Loading an array from a file
    Using ETABLE and extracting the results to an array
    Output when using the GUI
    Generating editable WMF figures

  • Geometrical Aspects of a Hollow-Cathode Magnetron (HCM)

    Zhehui Wang and Samuel A. Cohen

    "A hollow-cathode magnetron (HCM), built by surrounding a planar sputtering-magnetron cathode with a hollow-cathode structure (HCS), is operable at substantially lower pressures than its planar-magnetron counterpart... Detailed magnetic field distribution was calculated using the ANSYS code, and confirmed by Hall probe measurements."

  • HDPUG's Design for Lead-Free Solder Joint Reliability of High-Density Packages

    J. Lau, W. Dauksher, J. Smetana, R. Horsley, D. Shangguan, T. Castello, I. Menis, D. Love, B. Sulliv

    "The lead-free solder-joint reliability of the high-density packages, 256-pin PBGA (plastic ball grid array), 388-pin PBGA, and 1657-pin CCGA (ceramic column grid array), on PCB (printed circuit board) subjected to temperature cycling is investigated. Emphasis is placed on the determination of the creep responses (e.g., stress, strain, and strain energy density) of the lead-free solder joints of these packages. The lead-free solder is assumed to obey the Garofalo-Arrhenius creep constitutive law. The results presented herein should be useful for a better understanding of the thermal-mechanical behaviors of the lead-free solder joints in these high-density package assemblies."

  • High End Workbench Tip

    PADT

    Taken from PADT's SWAU group meeting on performing high-end analyses with Workbench Simulation.

  • Hill's Potential [ZIP]

    Sheldon Imaoka (ANSYS, Inc.)

    "Anisotropic plasticity using Hill’s yield criterion was introduced in ANSYS 5.7, and the extensions to anisotropic creep and viscoplasticity were added in ANSYS 6.0. While Hill’s stress potential is most commonly used for rolled sheets, it can be used for other situations where three orthogonal planes of symmetry are preserved. This memo will introduce details of the usage of Hill’s potential in ANSYS."
    (Week 50, week of 08/31/08)

  • History of ANSYS University Support Program

    D.E. Dietrich (Curtiss-Wright Electro-Mechanical Corporation)

    This document describes the history of the ANSYS University Support Program as well as history of ANSYS/ED software.

  • Human Heart Valves. Hyperelastic Material Modeling

    Mihai Stuparu

    "Performing a finite element analysis (FEA) on a hyperelastic material is difficult due to nonlinearity, large deformation, and material instability. This paper provides a brief review of the hyperelastic theory and discusses several important issues that should be addressed when using ANSYS. Analysis on a fatigue specimen is used as an example of one of our product development challenges upon which these issues were illuminated. We believe that a stable material model in combination with a good understanding of structural instability for traditional materials is the key to success in simulating hyperelastic materials using ANSYS."

  • Hybrid Finite Element - Trefftz Method for Open Boundary Analysis [PDF]

    Miklos Gyimesi, Igor Tsukerman and Doug Lavers

    Presented at MSM 2000. (MEMS)

  • Hybrid P-Element and Trefftz Method for Capacitance Computation [PDF]

    Miklos Gyimesi, Jian-She Wang, Dale Ostergaard

    Presented at MSM 2000. (MEMS)

  • Hyper-Elastic Contact Analysis of a Push-Button Diaphragm Seal

    Jeffrey R. Annis

    "Presented is the non-linear finite element analysis of a rubber diaphragm seal utilizied in a pushbutton design. Analysis considerations encompassed, nonlinear hyper-elastic material behavior of the rubber, large deflection analysis of seal complex motion, and contact analysis with mating parts. Design parameters of primary interest were, seal deflection patterns and seal actuation force as a function of travel."

  • Hyperelasticity

    (ANSYS, Inc.)

    Presentation on the various hyperelastic strain energy functions available in ANSYS (part of the "Advanced Analysis with ANSYS" seminar during the 2002 User's Conference).erel.pdf

  • INTERP.zip

    Vladimir Tkach (NPO Energomash)

    "This example interpolates stress-strain curve by polynomial function - Strain=A1+A2StressA3Stress^2, in temperature area between Proportional, Yield and Ultimate stresses and reads it into ANSYS db-file."

  • Identification Methodology of Electrical Equivalent Circuit of the Piezoelectric Transformers by FEM

    Pigache François, Nadal Clément

    Methodology using Ansys analyses for the identification of Electrical Equivalent Circuit of piezoelectric transformer. The demonstration is done with typical multilayered Rosen transformer but the method is relevant for any kind of transformer structures.

  • Impact Of Ball Via Configurations On Solder Joint Reliability In Tape Based Chip-Scale Packages [PDF]

    Bret Zahn

    "Three-dimensional finite element analysis has been applied to determine the time-dependent solder joint fatigue response of a tape based chip-scale package under accelerated temperature cycling." (Nonlinear, Anand)

  • Implicit Creep

    (ANSYS, Inc.)

    Presentation on implicit creep (part of the "Advanced Analysis with ANSYS" seminar during the 2002 User's Conference).

  • Improvements to Time-History Postprocessing at 6.0 [PDF]

    Sheldon Imaoka (ANSYS, Inc.)

    "This tips and tricks focuses on improvements at 6.0 on the Time-History postprocessor. (After I did this, I realized that a lot of this was already covered in the 6.0 Update seminar, but, oh well...)"

  • Integrating ANSYS with Modern Numerical Optimization Technologies

    Shen-Yeh Chen

    "Design automation with finite element analysis as a simulation and evaluation tool is becoming more and more desired. The ability to do automatic design iteration has constantly been a popular research and engineering topic. In this article, we will show how Honeywell Engines & Systems took advantage of the flexible environment of ANSYS to achieve this goal." (Optimization, APDL)

  • Introduction to the Residual Vector Method [ZIP]

    Sheldon Imaoka (ANSYS, Inc.)

    "The residual vector method can improve the accuracy of mode-superposition harmonic response or transient analyses, especially when the high-frequency content of the structure is excited. This memo provides details on how users can take advantage of this analysis technique introduced in ANSYS 11.0."

  • Iterative Determination of Save Working Loads (SWL) for Crawler Cranes

    G. Kolarov, K.-H.Reckziegel, T.Göllnitz

    "A program for the calculation of Save Working Loads (SWL) is introduced. It uses ANSYS and its parametric design language. The models are based on large displacements, small strains and linear-elastic material. The limit state method with partial safety coefficients is applied. For a crawler crane many configurations exist and they have to be calculated for different positions and load cases. Special attention is paid to the overall structural stability of the crane and to the effectiveness of the calculations."

  • LS-DYNA Simulations of Thermal Shock in Solids

    Goran Skoro

    PowerPoint presentation on thermal shock on rod.
    [ANSYS LS-DYNA, version unspecified]

  • Large-Area, High-Transparency Extraction System for Negative Ions

    B. Heinemann, J. Bucalossi, P. Frank, R. Riedl, A. Simonin, E. Speth, O. Vollmer

    (Thermal analysis)

  • Legend_Example.zip

    Bob Weathers (Trane)

    Example of customizing legend with annotations. See "Read Me"file for details, along with AVI animation."Essentially, I turn off the legend and write annotations into this area. It gives me considerable control over what appears there. I have also found that I can better communicate results to my customers by, say, having a legend that's reads 1.23 mils rather than 0.123E-02 inches or by referencing drawing and revision numbers, test results, material properties, and so on."
    "You might need to change some of the character size and line spacing dimensions in the macros. Again, though, they work just fine for my hardware."

  • License monitoring and reporting [PDF]

    Sheldon Imaoka (CSI)

    Information on license monitoring and reporting for Elan (ANSYS 5.4-5.6). At 5.7, licensing has reverted back to FlexLM, and this document is not applicable.

  • Load vs. displacement control in contact problems [PDF]

    Karen Dhuyvetter (CSI)

    Discussion on load vs. displacement control for contact problems.

  • Local Approximation Estimators For Algebraic Multigrid

    Jan Mandel

    "We are concerned with the development of Algebraic Multigrid (AMG) for symmetric, positive definite linear systems arizing from finite element discretization of elliptic partial differential equations. AMG methods attempt to create coarse levels from the algebraic system automatically, using no or only a minimum of additional information. The basic idea of the multigrid algorithm is that fine level error on which the smoothing process is not effective should be reduced by the coarse correction. Therefore, a-priori estimates of the approximation of fine level functions by coarse level function are important to guide the design of robust AMG methods."

  • Long Parameter and Component Names at 6.0 [ZIP]

    Sheldon Imaoka (ANSYS, Inc.)

    "Starting from version 5.7, strings have been introduced to replace character arrays. Strings allow for up to 128 characters for APDL purposes, instead of the 8-letter limit of character parameters. The /INQUIRE command as well as string manipulation functions (see *GET online help) extend the usefulness of strings to retrieve and manipulate data. *VWRITE has also been enhanced to support C-format statements, useful in writing out long strings."
    "At 6.0, the 8-character limitation on parameters, components, and /POST26 variables has been removed. Users can now specify up to 32 character for these items, allowing for much more descriptive names. In /POST26, variables can also be referred to by name when plotting or listing."

  • Low Creep and Hysteresis Load Cell Based on a Force to Liquid Pressure Transformation

    Robert A.F. Zwijze, Remco J. Wiegerink, Theo S. J. Lammerink, and Miko Elwenspoek

    "Important problems in load cells are creep and hysteresis. Expensive high grade steels are used in order to reduce these effects. In this paper a load cell design based on a force to liquid pressure transformation is presented. The design is insensitive to hysteresis and creep and can be made at very low costs. Analytical, numerical and experimental results are in very close agreement with each other." (FLUID79)

  • Manipulating FE Mesh [ZIP]

    Sheldon Imaoka (ANSYS, Inc.)

    "There are some special situations where a user may be required to generate or manipulate a database consisting mainly of finite element entities without solid model geometry. With some careful planning, dealing with mesh-only databases can prove to be relatively easy.

    Typical situations that may arise include the following:

    Import of mesh from Workbench Simulation or AI*Environment/ICEM CFD
    Generation of repetitive geometry

    This memo hopes to cover these situations in more detail."

  • Manual Calculation of Strain Energy Density [ZIP]

    Sheldon Imaoka (ANSYS, Inc.)

    "Output of elastic, plastic, and creep strain energy densities (SEND) was introduced in ANSYS 6.0, although this is limited to 18x elements in nonlinear analyses. Users whose models include core elements with plasticity and creep may also wish to obtain these quantities, and this memo hopes to review this procedure."
    (Week 22, week of 12/22/02.)

  • Mass property calculation methods [PDF]

    Sheldon Imaoka (CSI)

    This memo covers some ways to determine mass properties of an ANSYS model.

  • Memory management and configuration [PDF]

    Sheldon Imaoka (CSI)

    Memo on memory management and configuration, especially in conjunction with the PCG solver and options in linear static analyses.

  • Mesh Discretization Error and Criteria for Accuracy of Finite Element Solutions

    Chandresh Shah

    "Any finite element analysis performed by an engineer is subject to several types of errors that can compromise the validity of the results. These errors can be broadly classified under the following categories: 1) user error - incorrect usage of FE software or input by the FE analyst, 2) errors due to assumptions and simplifications used in the model and 3) errors due to insufficient mesh discretization. User errors can be prevented by developing and utilizing a comprehensive pre and post processing checklist and by appropriate training in the basics of finite element analysis and usage of FE software. Errors due to modeling assumptions and simplifications can be alleviated by adding complexity to the model so that it better represents the physics of the problem being analyzed. Errors due to the inadequacy or coarseness of the mesh are often overlooked by the analyst. These errors due to mesh discretization can be fixed by evaluating the quality of the mesh and by developing and utilizing criteria that characterize the accuracy of the FE solution. This paper describes the source of mesh discretization error and presents several criteria that can be used by an FE analyst to evaluate the accuracy of the FE solution."

    [ANSYS 5.7, 2002 Conference]

  • Meshing in Workbench [PDF]

    Sheldon Imaoka (ANSYS, Inc.)

    "Mechanical users have long enjoyed access to a variety of powerful meshing tools inside of ANSYS to generate high-quality shell, tetrahedral, and swept meshes. During the past several years, meshing in ANSYS Workbench Simulation has not only grown to encompass traditional meshing algorithms in ANSYS but has also developed many features requested by ANSYS users as well as integrated meshing technologies from ANSYS CFX and ANSYS ICEM CFD."