shell vs solid elements

- July 2, 2019 at 3:12 pm
  
  lohitsagar
  Subscriber
  
  Hello,
  
  I am simulating four-point bending test for glass plates. The element type is SOLID186. I want to know if this element type is suitable under bending. I read on a few websites that, 3 to 4 solid elements are needed across the thickness to capture proper bending. I only have one element across the thickness, if I increase the number of elements, the computation time is quite long. Should I switch to shell elements? If so, how should I do it? I'm using ANSYS v19.0.
- July 2, 2019 at 4:54 pm
  
  jj77
  Subscriber
  
  You definitely need to have more than one. It depends on the stress distribution (thick), but normally a rule of thumb could be about 4 linear elements, or 2 quadratic elements are a start.
  
  See this on how to set that:
  
  /forum/forums/topic/element-mid-side-nodes-ansys-19/
  
  Shell elements you need a surface body - if the body is thin and you do not care about any through thickness phenomena say at the location of the rolers and you want just to capture bending, then use shells.