MECH 4259-S2025: Computer Aided Engineering
Lecture 2: Symmetry and stress concentration
Ram Adhikari, Ph.D, [Link]
May 8, 2025
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Outlines
• Axisymmetric bodies
• Planes of symmetry
• FEA in CATIA
• A bent rod
• FEA of an axially loaded rectangular
block with stress concentration
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Symmetry - Axisymmetric 3-D bodies
y
• Symmetry: one half is the mirror image of
the other
• 3-D bodies with axis of symmetry (no
variation of properties in circumferential
direction) are called axisymmetric bodies
• A solid of revolution, or an axisymmetric
solid, is generated by revolving a plane
figure about an axis in the plane. However,
loads and supports may or may not have
symmetry.
• In practical applications, they appear as
cooling towers, submarine pressure hulls,
offshore drilling rigs, cans, radomes, nuclear
reactors, etc. Many pressure vessels and
R containers can be simplified by using
axisymmetric elements.
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Symmetry …contd.
A coke drum
Thermal-structural model
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Symmetry in FEA – Example of a bent rod
• Use of symmetry is a powerful approach to model reduction, i.e.
simplify complex systems by identifying repeating patterns and
reducing computational effort (decrease the number of variables
and equations needed to analyze a structure).
• Symmetry exists in a FE problem if the following are symmetric:
o Geometry
o Load and boundary conditions
o Material properties
2000 lbf
E = 30 × 106 psi Symmetric Non-symmetric
𝜈 = 0.3 5
Planes of symmetry – Example of an axially
loaded block
= 2000 lbf
E = 30 × 106 psi
𝜈 = 0.3
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CATIA: Generative Structural Analysis (FEA)
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Example 1: FEA of a bent rod
• FEA with solid elements
2000 lbf
E = 30 × 106 psi
𝜈 = 0.3
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Example 2: planes of symmetry of an axially
loaded block
• Stress concentration
2000 lbf
Fig. Stress concentration factor (𝑘𝑡 ) in an axially loaded E = 30 × 106 psi
plate with a hole at the centre. Stress in a bar in tension 𝜈 = 0.3
𝐹
or simple compression with a transverse hole: 𝜎0 = ,
𝐴
where 𝐴 = (𝑤 − 𝑑)𝑡 and t is the thickness. Max. stress,
𝐹
𝜎𝑚𝑎𝑥. = 𝑘𝑡 .
𝐴 9
References
1. CATIA V5 FEA Tutorials, release 21 by Nader Zamani, SDC Publications,
ISBN-13: 978-1585037643.
2. Finite Element Modeling for Stress Analysis by Cook, Robert D, Wiley
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