MUG ANALYSIS

MSC visualNastran Tutorial

Clarkson University
Andy Strong

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 MUG ANALYSIS
MSC visualNastran 4D tutorial

Part One: Opposing Force Stress Analysis

1) Open visualNastran 4D (vN4D).

From the Start Menu Select: All Programs, MSC.visualNastran Desktop,

Figure 1: MSC visualNastran 4D icons

2) Import mug model (mug.stp).

From the File menu select open and brose to the location of mug.stp. From the Specify
length unit pull down menu, select in. Click Open.

Figure 2: Open window

3) Verify the model.

Right click on the mug model and choose Properties from the pull down menu. Select
the Geometry tab. Verify that the model Width, Length and Height are 4.84in, 3.25in,
and 4.5in respectively.

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Figure 3: Properties window

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4) Set the units.

From the World menu choose Display Settings. Open the Display Settings tab if it is
not and select Units. From the Unit System pull down menu, select English(slugs).

Figure 4: Display Settings window

5) Add an FEA mesh to the model.

Right click the model and choose Properties from the pull down menu. Select the FEA
tab and check the Include in FEA checkbox. Click the mesh button, wait for the mesh
solver, and check the Show mesh checkbox.

Figure 5: Properties, FEA window

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Your model should look something like figure 6.

Figure 6: Model with mesh applied

This is a poor mesh representing this model, so we will change the FEA properties. In the
FEA tab change Default mesh size to 0.125 and click Apply. Click Mesh and wait for
the mesh solver to finish. Your model should now look like Figure 7. Obtain a printout of
this. Uncheck the Show mesh checkbox and close the properties window.

Figure 7: Model with updated mesh

Right click the model and select Properties from the pull down menu and select the
Materials tab. Under Material Properties click Change. From the Material pull down
menu select Glass and click OK. Close the properties window.

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6) Apply forces to the model.

From the Insert menu select Force (or select the force icon ). Click on the model
near the top (see figure 8) to apply a force. Rotate the model (middle mouse button or F4)
and apply a second force (select Insert, Force, and click).

Figure 8: Forces applied on either side of model

Rotate (middle mouse button or F4) the model so you can see both forces:

Figure 9: Position of left and right forces

Right click on the green arrow representing the left force and choose Properties from the
pull down menu. Under the Appearance tab change the Name to Left Force. Under the
Structural Load tab change X, Y, and Z to 0, 100, and 0 respectively.

Figure 10: Force properties window

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Repeat this for the right force, but give it the name Right Force and use 0,-100, and 0 for
the X, Y, and Z components.

7) Position the forces.

In the left multi-menu select Object Browser. Click the + box on Left Force and Right
Force to expand them.

Figure 11: Location of Object Browser

Right click on the red coord under the Left Force expansion and choose Properties from
the pull down menu. Under the Position tab (Pos) set X, Y, Z, Rx, Ry, and Rz to 0,
-1.63, 4, 90, 0, and -180 respectively. Repeat this for the Right Force coord and set X,
Y, Z, Rx, Ry, and Rz to 0, -1.63, 4, 90, 0, and 0 respectively. The forces should now be
centered and directly opposing each other as in figure 12.

Figure 12: Coord properties window

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8) Run Stress Finite Element Analysis.

To run the FEA solver, click the Solve FEA button (be sure it is set to stress analysis by
selecting the small carrot button to the right of the Solve FEA). This will generate a
single frame FEA solution and map it in color to the model. In order to display the
proper stress values, go to the World pull-down, then select Display Settings, FEA
Display, and Contour Data. On the right side of the window select Stress and then
change from von Mises to MAX_PRINCIPAL.

Figure 13: Location of Solve FEA button

Figure 14: FEA Stress solution

Save your analysis as MUG1.WM3. Be careful not to over-write this file in the next two
sections. Obtain a printout of these results.

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Part Two: Applied Thermal Analysis

Open MUG1.WM3 and Save As MUG2.WM3.

Delete the two blue cords (red in Object Browser) by clicking on them and press Delete
(Answer Yes when asked if you want to erase the FEA results). The two green force
arrows should delete with them automatically.

The thermal analysis is more processor intensive (in its current state) so we will use a
larger mesh on the model. Right click on the model; choose Properties from the pull
down menu. Under the FEA tab, change Default Mesh Size to 0.25, press apply and then
Mesh. Close the Properties window.

1) Add the Thermal Toolbar

From the World menu choose Display Settings. Expand the Preferences + box and
select Toolbars. Check the Thermal check box (if its unchecked) and press apply and
close. The thermal toolbar should appear in the upper window.

Figure 15: Thermal Toolbar

2) Add a Prescribed Temperature.

Double click on the Prescribed Temperature button and click on the inner
surfaces of the mug (inside edge, bottom, and fillet between them).

*note: Double-clicking a constraint puts the constraint selection into "sticky mode" for
continuous selection of multiple surfaces. Press escape to turn sticky mode off.

Figure 16: Mug with temperature applied to inside surfaces

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In the Object Browser, right click on each of the prescribed temperature constraints and
select Properties. Select the Temperature tab and change the Prescribed Temperature
to 200F for each constraint.

Figure 17: Object Browser

3) Add a Convective Heat Flux.

Double click on the Convective Heat Flux button and click on the outer surfaces
of the mug (outside shell, bottom, handle and fillets between them). Press escape to exit
sticky mode.

Figure 18: Mug with temperature and convection constraints applied

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4) Run the Thermal FEA Solver

Click the small carrot button next to the Solve FEA button and select Thermal from
the pull down menu.

Figure 19: Changing analysis type

Click the Solve Thermal FEA button . This will generate a single Thermal FEA
frame solution and map it in color to the model.

Figure 20: FEA Thermal Solution

Here we can see that this mug filled with a liquid at 200F will be about 100F on the
outside of the mug and about 85F on its handle.

Save your analysis as MUG2.WM3. Be careful not to over-right this file in the next two
sections. Obtain a printout of these results.

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Part Three: Applied Thermal Stress Analysis

Open MUG2.WM3 and Save As MUG3.WM3.

Part Two gave us an example of the heat flow through the mug when a temperature is
applied to the inside of the mug and convection into air occurs on the outside of the mug.
In the next part, we will apply a temperature to the entire mug and look at the internal
stress.

1) Adjust applied temperatures

Press Control-F to delete the current FEA results. In the Object Browser select all of
the temperature constants ( , ) and delete them.

2) Set up temperature stress analysis

Highlight the mug by clicking on it. In the lower left corner of vN4D, there is a properties
checkbox listing. Scroll through this menu, find Heat, and check its checkbox. When you
do this, the Properties window for the mug should automatically pop up with the Heat
tab selected.

Figure 21: Heat Properties

Under Temperature-Induced Stress check the Use the body temperature in a stress
analysis checkbox. Enter a value of 200 degrees for current temperature, and 77 degrees
for Stress-free temperature. Close the properties window.

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3) Run stress FEA analysis

Select the small carrot button next to the Solve Thermal FEA button, and select Stress.

Click the Solve FEA button to begin the FEA solution. This will generate a single
frame FEA Stress solution and map it in color to the model.

Figure 22: Thermal Stress FEA results

Save your analysis as MUG3.WM3. Be careful not to over-right this file in the next
section. Obtain a print out of these results.

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Part Four: Dynamic Stress Analysis

Open MUG3.WM3 and Save As MUG4.WM3.

In the last sections we did single frame analysis of stress due to force and temperature
applied to the mug. In this section we will simulate a three foot fall of the mug onto a flat
surface. vN4D will animate the mugs decent and we will find the frame at precisely the
moment the mug hits the surface (within 1/10000s). We will run the stress FEA solver to
determine the stress in the mug from hitting this surface.

1) Set up Environment

Push Control-F to delete the current FEA data. Right click on the mug and choose
Properties. Select the Position (Pos) tab and change Rx, Ry, and Rz to 135, 0, and
0 respectively. This orients the mug so the upper lip strikes the surface when the mug
falls. Under the Heat tab, uncheck Use the body temperature in a stress analysis. Close
the Properties window.

Figure 23: Mug properties Position tab

Select the Box creation tool and move the curser to the right of the mug. Create a
small box as in figure 24. This is a triple click tool. The first click designates the first
corner of the box, the second click designates the opposite corner of a rectangle, and third
click designates the height of the box.

Right click the mug and choose Properties. Under the Materials tab, set Mass to 0.024
slugs and Coeff. Restitution to 0.3.

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 Figure 24: Mug and box

Right click on the box and choose Properties. Under the Position tab set X, Y, and Z to
0, 0, and -36 respectively. Also under this tab, check the Fixed checkbox. Under the
Appearance tab, change the color of the box to one of your choice. Under the Box tab,
set Width (X), Length(Y), and Height (Z) to 20, 20, and 0.5 respectively. This will turn
your box into a flat surface in the proper location below the mug. Under the Materials
tab set Coeff. Restitution to 0.3.

Press the v key to zoom all objects. Your environment should now look like the one in
figure 25.

Figure 25: Simulation Environment Figure 26: Collide selection

Click and drag in the vN4D window and completely surround both the box and the mug
to select them both. Right click on one of the objects (with them both currently selected)
and choose Collide from the pull down menu (Figure 26). This will tell vN4D to simulate
a collision between the two objects.

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2) Run a Dynamic Simulation

Press the Run button and vN4D will calculate the decent of the mug and its
collision with the flat surface. Let it run for a few hundred frames and then push the Stop
button.

Figure 27: Simulation Controls

Now that the simulation has run we can step through all the frames to see the mugs
location at each frame. We can also run an FEA solution on any frame we like to see the
internal stressed in the mug at that frame. Use the frame drag bar (in-between the Step
Frame and Run buttons) and the Step Frame buttons to get to frame where the mug first

touches the flat surface. Use the Rotate button and the Zoom Box button to
get an orientation as shown in Figure 28.

Figure 28: Mug striking surface.

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Note that each time you press the step frame button; the mug jumps a large distance. This
is because our frame rate is set to 0.02, and we only get data calculated for these frames.
Since first strike of the mug occurs during a very small amount of time, we will need to
adjust the frame rate to something smaller and rerun the simulation.

Select Simulation Settings from the World menu. Under Simulation Settings, choose
Integration and set Time to 0.0001 sec. Close the window.

Figure 29: Simulation Settings

vN4D will automatically delete the motion history and reset the mug to its starting
location. Press v to zoom all, and press Run to run the simulation with the new frame
rate. The simulation will take much longer to run this time. Let the simulation run until 1
second (10,000 frames) has passed in simulation time and press stop. Use the frame slider
and get to the frame where the mug just touches the flat surface, then use the frame step
buttons to back up until you see a gap between the mug and the flat surface (about frame
4006). We will begin FEA stress analyses on this frame.

Figure 30: Mug just before it hits

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3) Run FEA Stress Analysis

Run a Stress FEA analysis on the current frame by pressing the Solve FEA button.
This will generate a stress solution pertaining to the current frame. Since the mug has not
yet hit the surface, it should appear completely blue in color, indicating there is zero
stress.

Figure 31: Mug stress before collision

Press the Step Forward button to step forward a frame. Press the Solve FEA button
again to calculation a FEA solution for this new frame.

Repeat this until the FEA solution gives some non-zero results. Continue stepping
forward past this point a few frames. Now go back to the frame showing the large stress,
which is the point of contact, and get a printout. If there is no frame showing large stress
values similar to those below, you have missed the exact time when contact occurs. In
this case go back and solve the analysis with a Time smaller than 0.0001 sec. Try
0.00005 next. Save your analysis as MUG4.WM3.

Figure 32: FEA Stress Results

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