Linear Static Analysis

Problem Description

A torque arm of an automotive component is to be verified for its structural integrity . The torque arm is fixed at its left hole and loads are applied on the right side hole.

Geometry

A 2D plane stress model of the torque arm having thickness 10 mm is prepared as per the shown dimensions.

Mesh Generation

Meshing of the torque arm is done in GMSH. We mesh the arm with 4 node quadrilateral elements only. The arm is split to create good quality elements . We need to create physical groups of the curves so that SCIFESOL can recognize regions for load and boundary condition application.

Import Mesh

Now import the mesh file saved in file TorqueArm.m which is exported from GMSH.

Define Analysis Settings

Select type of analysis as static and using the analysis settings dialog box , define load steps and sub steps for the analysis.

Analysis Settings > Define Load Steps

Load steps is used to define loading conditions for time varying loads. In static analysis time variable is just a counter to distribute the load in steps. Time integration is not performed.

Define Material Properties

Select material of torque arm from material editor. We can also add new materials from the editor.

Define Element Properties

We define the behavior of 2D 4 node quadrilateral elements as plane stress.

Now we define the formulation of quadrilateral elements as pure displacement method.
Select the integration rule as 2x2.
Specify the thickness as 10 mm.

Apply Boundary Conditions

The torque arm is fixed at its left hole and force of 5000 N is applied on the right side hole.

Using the edge Id of the edges in the left side hole we select all the nodes on those edges to apply the fixity constraint.

After applying the boundary condition , first click on the mesh link in the model data list to activate the mesh then click on the constraints or loads link to display the constraints.

Apply Loads

We Identify the boundary ID of the hole region from geometry link in the model data list.

Force of 5000 N is applied in the region of the right hole. The load is divided equally on all the nodes.

Solve

Start static solver to solve the model.

Review Results

Using the post processor tab, we can plot the required results.

Displacement

Von Mises Stress

Summary

In this tutorial we have prepared the geometry in Freecad and generated the mesh in GMSH. The mesh is then imported in SCIFESOL to perform linear static analysis.

Static Analysis tutorial pdf