Learning Forum

[asceduardo]

I am trying to model a simply-supported beam on elastic foundation, kind of like the figure below:

[peteroznewman]

Please review the attached ANSYS 2020 R1 archive that shows a 2D Plane Strain model of a 0.5 mm thick aluminum sheet on an elastic foundation.nn

[asceduardo]

Your solution works for me, thank you. Anyway, let me ask you two more questions:n1) In other FE softwares, we can modify the surface's standard thickness (in Z direction). However, in Mechanical APDL I could not find such an option anywhere. In SpaceClaim, I did find it, but it does not affect the final results at all. Since the results provided by Ansys' 2D Plane Strain model match with a beam with cross-section 0.5 x 1000 mm, I suppose the standard thickness is 1 m. Can I change that? n2) Although your solution is very suitable for my particular objetive (which was to validate the analytical model of a beam on elastic support), I am still curious to know how can one efficiently define a large amount of instances (e.g.: loads, springs, concentrated masses etc). In other FE softwares, one can simply open the source file using, for example, Nodepad, and then manually write command lines to define such a large number of instances. What about in Ansys? How could I, let us say, define 100 springs, one for each node?n

[peteroznewman]

1) Most FE software, including ANSYS, offers two kinds of 2D Planar models: Plane Stress and Plane Strain.nPlane Stress is for modeling thin objects and you get to define the thickness of the object. The Z component of stress is zero. If you double the thickness of the model, the part gets twice as stiff in the plane.nPlane Strain is for modeling infinitely thick objects. The Z component of strain is zero. The loads are infinitely deep in the Z direction, so it only makes sense to describe loads/unit depth. So if you are in the units of meters, then the loads are N/m of depth. You can't change the thickness of the part because it is infinite.n2) ANSYS writes out a text file that you could edit with Notepad if you wanted. But Mechanical includes the Object Generator. With a few clicks, you can select 100 entities on the Mobile side of the spring and another 100 entities for the Reference side of a spring as two Named Selections. Create a single spring between the first entity on each side. Then use the Object Generator to automatically make 99 more. I have a tutorial in the link below.n/forum/discussion/2513/using-the-mechanical-object-generator-to-save-time-on-repetitive-tasksn

[asceduardo]

[mzhossain2001]

You can model the edge beam with Shell 63. n