ANSYS Rocky – how to simulate confining pressure?

[david.danko]

Hi, I’d like to ask what would be the best way to simulate a cylindrical triaxial test in ANSYS Rocky.

Problematic thing is, I need to apply a constant confining pressure on the particles from all sides. In reality we have a sealed membrane with vacuum inside, I am not sure what would be the best way to replicate the pressure in Rocky?

Thank you for any input.

[Jackson Gomes]

Hi David,

You can approximate this in a couple of ways:

• 2-Way coupling with Ansys Mechanical: this is the most realistic option. You can model the membrane in Mechanical and let it apply the confining pressure through deformation: Ansys Rocky: 2-Way Structural Coupling with Mechanical - YouTube
• Motion frames with force-controlled boundaries: apply forces on the walls. For the lateral confinement, instead of a single cylinder, split it into multiple segments so you can better approximate a uniform radial pressure.

For more details, see the User Manual: Rocky User Manual

 

Hope this helps! 

If you'd like to explore more learning materials about Rocky software, you can find them here: https://innovationspace.ansys.com/ais-rocky/

Warm Regards,

Jackson

[david.danko]

Hello,

thank you for the suggestions. The 2-Way coupling approach seems to work quite well and I will go on with this method.