ANSYS Handout: Tutorials
X.J. Xin
Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering
Kansas State University
Analysis of a Center Crack Problem
Problem Description
A center cracked panel is loaded by force P=100e6. The objective of the problem is to
demonstrate the typical ANSYS analysis procedure for crack problems. The dimensions of the
specimen are: width W = 10, height H = 20, crack length 2a = 2. Treat the problem as plane
stress with unit thickness. The Young’s modulus is 210e6, and the Poisson’s ratio is 0.3.
P
P
 Build the Geometry
Because of symmetry, you can model just half of the specimen. Use the upper half.
1. Main Menu > Preprocessor > Modeling>Create > Keypoints > In Active CS
2. Enter the following:
1 (Note: Press the Tab key between entries)
0 0
Apply
1
2
4 0
Apply
3
6 0
Apply
4
10 0
Apply
5
10 10
Apply
6
5 10
Apply
7
0 10
Apply
7 keypoints are created.
OK to close the dialog box.
Main Menu > Preprocessor > Modeling>Create > Lines > Lines > Straight Line
Click keypoints 1 and 2 to create line 1,
keypoints 2 and 3 to create one line 2,
keypoints 3 and 4 to create one line 3,
keypoints 4 and 5 to create one line 4,
keypoints 5 and 6 to create one line 5,
keypoints 6 and 7 to create one line 6,
keypoints 7 and 1 to create one line 7.
OK to close the dialog box.
Main Menu > Preprocessor > Modeling>Create > Areas > Arbitrary > By Lines
Click lines 1 to 7, OK. A rectangular area is created.
Before going to the next step, save the work you have done so far. ANSYS stores any input data
in memory to the ANSYS database. To save that database to a file, use the SAVE operation,
available as a tool on the Toolbar. ANSYS names the database file using the format jobname.db.
If you started ANSYS using the product launcher, you can specify a jobname at that point (the
default jobname is file). You can check the current jobname at any time by choosing Utility
Menu > List > Status > Global Status. You can also save the database at specific milestone
points in the analysis (such as after the model is complete, or after the model is meshed) by
choosing Utility Menu > File > Save As and specifying different jobnames (model.db, or
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mesh.db, etc.).
It is important to do an occasional save so that if you make a mistake, you can restore the model
from the last saved state. You restore the model using the RESUME operation, also available on
the Toolbar. (You can also find SAVE and RESUME on the Utility Menu, under File.)
Toolbar: SAVE_DB.

Define material properties.
1. Main Menu > Preprocessor > Material Props > Material Models
2. Double-click on Structural, Linear, Elastic, Isotropic.
3. Enter 210e9 for EX.
4. Enter .3 for PRXY.
5. OK to define material property set and close the dialog box.
Material > Exit

Define element types and options.
In any analysis, you need to select from a library of element types and define the appropriate
ones for your analysis.
For this analysis, you will use only one element type, PLANE2, which is a 2-D 6-node quadratic
structural triangular element. You will need to specify plane stress with thickness as an option
for PLANE2. (You will define the thickness as a real constant in the next step.)
1. Main Menu > Preprocessor > Element Type > Add/Edit/Delete
2. Add an element type.
3. Structural solid family of elements.
4. Choose the triangle 6node 2 (PLANE2).
5. OK to apply the element type and close the dialog box.
6. Options for PLANE2 are to be defined.
7. The default is plane stress with unit thickness. Use the default.
8. OK to specify options and close the options dialog box.
Close the element type dialog box.

Define real constants.
For this analysis, since the assumption is plane stress with thickness, you will enter the thickness
as a real constant for PLANE2. Since we use the default of unit thickness, we don't actually need
to do anything.

Generate Mesh
One nice feature of the ANSYS program is that you can automatically mesh the model without
specifying any mesh size controls. This is using what is called a default mesh. If you’re not sure
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how to determine the mesh density, let ANSYS try it first! Meshing this model with a default
mesh however, generates more elements than are allowed in the ANSYS/ED program. Instead
you will specify a global element size to control overall mesh density.
1. Main Menu > Preprocessor > Meshing> Mesh Tool
2. Set Global Size control.
3. Type in 1.
4. OK.
5. Choose Area Meshing.
6. Click on Mesh.
7. Pick All for the area to be meshed (in picking menu). Close any warning messages that
appear.
8. Close the Mesh Tool.
Note
The mesh you see on your screen may vary slightly from the mesh shown here. As a result of
this, you may see slightly different results during postprocessing. For a discussion of results
accuracy, see Planning Your Approach in the ANSYS Modeling and Meshing Guide.
Main Menu > Preprocessor > Meshing> Refine Mesh > Refine At > Elements
A dialog box will appear. Check the "box" option. Then use the mouse to draw a box that
enclose the lower half of the box. The selected elements will be marked by small squares. Click
Pick All. Another dialog box appears. The default refinement level is "1 (Minimal)". Use the
default. Click OK.
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Keep refining the mesh, so that it is getting finer and finer in the regions near the crack tips. See
the following figures.
Save the database as mesh.db.
Here again, you will save the database to a named file, this time mesh.db.
1. Utility Menu > File > Save as
2. Enter mesh.db for database file name.
OK to save file and close dialog box.

Apply displacement constraints.
You can apply displacement constraints directly to lines.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Main Menu > Solution > Define Loads> Apply > Structural> Displacement > On Lines
Pick the line 1 and line 3 (the left and right ligaments).
OK (in picking menu).
Click on UY.
Enter 0 for zero displacement.
OK to apply constraints and close dialog box.
Main Menu > Solution > Define Loads> Apply > Structural> Displacement > On
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Keypoints
8. Pick keypoint 1 (lower left corner).
9. OK (in picking menu).
10. Click on UX.
11. Enter 0 for zero displacement.
12. OK to apply constraints and close dialog box.
Toolbar: SAVE_DB.
 Apply load.
Now apply the force at the center of the top edge.
1. Main Menu > Solution > Define Loads> Apply > Structural> Force/Moment > On
Keypoints
2. Pick the keypoint at the center of the top edge
3. Apply.
4. Select FY for the force direction
5. Enter 100 for VALUE.
6. OK.
Toolbar: SAVE_DB.

Solve.
1. Main Menu > Solution > -Solve- Current LS
2. Review the information in the status window, then choose File > Close (Windows), or Close
(X11/Motif), to close the window.
3. OK to begin the solution. Choose Yes to any Verify messages that appear.
Close the information window when solution is done.
Toolbar: SAVE_DB.
ANSYS stores the results of this one load step problem in the database and in the results file,
Jobname.RST (or Jobname.RTH for thermal, Jobname.RMG for magnetic, and Jobname.RFL
for fluid analyses). The database can actually contain only one set of results at any given time, so
in a multiple load step or multiple substep analysis, ANSYS stores only the final solution in the
database. ANSYS stores all solutions in the results file.

Review Results
The beginning of the postprocessing phase.
Note
The results you see may vary slightly from what is shown here due to variations in the mesh.
Enter the general postprocessor and read in the results.
1. Main Menu > General Postproc > Read Results> First Set
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
1.
2.
3.
Plot the deformed shape.
Main Menu > General Postproc > Plot Results > Deformed Shape
Choose Def + undeformed.
OK.
You can also produce an animated version of the deformed shape:
4. Utility Menu > Plot Ctrls > Animate > Deformed Shape
5. Choose Def + undeformed.
6. OK.
Make choices in the Animation Controller (not shown), if necessary, then choose Close.

Plot the von Mises equivalent stress.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Main Menu > General Postproc > Plot Results > Contour Plot> Nodal Solu
Choose Stress item to be contoured.
Scroll down and choose von Mises (SEQV).
OK.
You can also zoom in to view the stress contour around the crack tip.
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PlotCtrls > Pan Zoom Rotate
Click Box Zoom
Draw a box enclosing the crack tip. You will see the zoom in region with the stress contour. You
can repeat the zoom action until you get a fine view of the tip region.

List reaction solution.
1. Main Menu > General Postproc > List Results > Reaction Solu
2. OK to list all items and close the dialog box.
3. Scroll down and find the total vertical force, FY.
File > Close (Windows), or Close (X11/Motif), to close the window.
Go down to the bottom of the popup window. The total value of -100e6 is the opposite to the
total pin load force.
There are many other options available for reviewing results in the general postprocessor. You’ll
see some of these demonstrated in other tutorials. The following gives a few useful illustrations.

To get the displacement of the loading point
PlotCtrls > Pan Zoom Rotate
Click Fit
Plot > Elements so you can see all elements
Select > Entities …
OK in the popup box. Another box pops up.
Click the loading point, then OK
Main Menu > General Postproc > List Results > Nodal Solution
DOF Solution, All DOFs, OK
Ux and Uy of the loading point will be displaced, as follows
THE FOLLOWING DEGREE OF FREEDOM RESULTS ARE IN GLOBAL COORDINATES
NODE
UX
UY
42 -0.95719E-04 0.15324E-02
MAXIMUM ABSOLUTE VALUES
NODE
42
42
VALUE -0.95719E-04 0.15324E-02
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
To plot the stress along a line (e.g. the right ligament)
Main Menu > General Postproc > Path Operation > Define Paths > By location
Path name: AA
Number of points : 2
Number of data set: change to 100
Number of divisions: change to 100
Popup box
1
6 0
OK
2
10 0
OK, Cancel
Main Menu > General Postproc > Path Operation > Plot Paths to see the path
Main Menu > General Postproc > Path Operation > Map onto Path
Select "Stress", "Y-direction stress SY"
Main Menu > General Postproc > Path Operation > Plot Path Item > On Graph
Select "SY", OK.
The distribution of sigma_yy along the right ligament will show.
To get data for the curve,
Main Menu > General Postproc > Path Operation > Plot Path Item > List path items
Select "SY", OK.
A pop up window will show sigma_yy versus location along the ligament. You can copy the data
and import into Excel to do more plotting.

Exit the ANSYS program.
When exiting the ANSYS program, you can save the geometry and loads portions of the
database (default), save geometry, loads, and solution data (one set of results only), save
geometry, loads, solution data, and postprocessing data (i.e., save everything), or save nothing.
You can save nothing here, but you should be sure to use one of the other save options if you
want to keep the ANSYS data files.
1. Toolbar: Quit.
2. Choose Quit - No Save!
OK.
With the knowledge of the stress distribution along the crack tip, you should be able to calculate
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the stress intensity factor using Fracture Mechanics formulas. This is one of the objectives of the
ANSYS project. With the knowledge of the load point displacement and force, you should be
able to calculate the energy release rate, which can also be used to calculate the stress intensity
factor. See project description.
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