2D & 3D Truss

Determine the nodal deflections, reaction forces, and stress for the
truss system shown below (E = 200GPa, A = 3250mm
2
).

(Modified from Chandrupatla & Belegunda, Introduction to Finite Elements in Engineering, p.123)
In Mechanical APDL Product Launcher
give job name as 2D_truss
In Preferences select Structural
The overall geometry is defined in ANSYS using keypoints
which specify various principal coordinates to define the body.
For this example, these keypoints are the ends of each truss.
keypoints X-coordinates Y-Coordinates
1 0 0
2 1800 3118
3 3600 0
4 5400 3118
5 7200 0
6 9000 3118
7 10800 0
From the 'ANSYS Main Menu' select:
Preprocessor > Modeling > Create > Keypoints > In Active CS
To define the first keypoint which has the coordinates x = 0 and y = 0:
Enter keypoint number 1 in the appropriate box, and enter the x,y coordinates: 0, 0 in their appropriate
boxes. Click 'Apply' to accept what you have typed.
Enter the remaining keypoints using the same method.
The keypoints must now
be connected
use the mouse to select
the keypoints to form the
lines.
In the main menu select:
Preprocessor >
Modeling > Create >
Lines > Lines > In
Active Coord. The
following window will
then appear:




Use the mouse to pick keypoint #1 (i.e. click on it). It will now be marked by a small yellow box.
Now move the mouse toward keypoint #2. A line will now show on the screen joining these two
points. Left click and a permanent line will appear.
Connect the remaining keypoints using the same method.
When you're done, click on 'OK' in the 'Lines in Active Coord' window, minimize the 'Lines' menu and
the 'Create' menu. Your ANSYS Graphics window should look similar to the following figure.
Define the Type of Element
It is now necessary to create elements. This is called 'meshing'. ANSYS first needs to know what kind of
elements to use for our problem:
From the Preprocessor Menu, select: Element Type > Add/Edit/Delete. The following window will then appear:

Define Geometric Properties
We now need to specify geometric properties for our elements:
In the Preprocessor menu, select Real Constants > Add/Edit/Delete

'Set 1' now
appears in
the dialog
box. Click
on 'Close' in
the 'Real
Constants'
window.
Element Material Properties
You then need to specify material properties:
In the 'Preprocessor' menu select Material Props > Material Models
Double click on Structural > Linear > Elastic > Isotropic

Set these properties and click on 'OK'. Note:
You may obtain the note 'PRXY will be set to
0.0'. This is poisson's ratio and is not required
for this element type. Click 'OK' on the window
to continue
Mesh Size
The last step before meshing is to tell ANSYS what size the elements should be. There are a variety of
ways to do this but we will just deal with one method for now.
In the Preprocessor menu select Meshing > Size Cntrls > ManualSize > Lines > All Lines
In the size 'NDIV' field, enter the desired number of divisions per line. For this example we want only 1
division per line, therefore, enter '1' and then click 'OK'.

Mesh
Now the frame can be meshed.
In the 'Preprocessor' menu select Meshing > Mesh > Lines and click 'Pick All' in the
'Mesh Lines' Window
Your model should now appear as shown in the following window
Plot Numbering
To show the line numbers, keypoint numbers, node numbers...
From the Utility Menu (top of screen) select PlotCtrls > Numbering...
Fill in the Window as shown below and click 'OK'

Define Analysis Type
First you must tell ANSYS how you want it to solve this problem:
From the Solution Menu, select Analysis Type > New Analysis.

Apply Constraints
It is necessary to apply constraints to the model otherwise the model is not tied down or grounded and a singular
solution will result. In mechanical structures, these constraints will typically be fixed, pinned and roller-type
connections. As shown above, the left end of the truss bridge is pinned while the right end has a roller connection.
In the Solution menu, select Define Loads > Apply > Structural > Displacement > On Keypoints

This location is fixed which means that all translational and
rotational degrees of freedom (DOFs) are constrained. Therefore,
select 'All DOF' by clicking on it and enter '0' in the Value field
and click 'OK'.
Using the same method, apply the roller connection to the right end (UY
constrained). Note that more than one DOF constraint can be selected
at a time in the "Apply U,ROT on KPs" window. Therefore, you may
need to 'deselect' the 'All DOF' option to select just the 'UY' option.
Apply Loads
As shown in the diagram, there are four downward loads of 280kN, 210kN, 280kN, and 360kN at keypoints
1, 3, 5, and 7 respectively.
Select Define Loads > Apply > Structural > Force/Moment > on Keypoints.
Select the first Keypoint (left end of the truss) and click 'OK' in the 'Apply F/M on KPs' window.

Select FY in the 'Direction of force/mom'. This indicate that we will be applying the load in the 'y' direction
Enter a value of -280000 in the 'Force/moment value' box and click 'OK'. Note that we are using units of N
here, this is consistent with the previous values input.
The force will appear in the graphics window as a red arrow.
Apply the remaining loads in the same manner.
The applied loads and constraints should
now appear as shown below.

Solving the System
We now tell ANSYS to find the solution:
In the 'Solution' menu select Solve > Current LS. This indicates that we desire the solution under the
current Load Step (LS).

Postprocessing: Viewing the Results


Hand Calculations
We will first calculate the forces and stress in element 1 (as labeled in the problem description).

Results Using ANSYS
Reaction Forces
A list of the resulting reaction forces can be obtained for this element
from the Main Menu select General Postproc > List Results > Reaction Solu.
Select 'All struc forc F' as shown above and click 'OK'

Deformation
In the General Postproc menu, select Plot Results > Deformed
Shape. The following window will appear.
Select 'Def + undef edge' and click 'OK' to view both the deformed and
the undeformed object.
Observe the value of the maximum deflection in the upper left
hand corner (DMX=7.409).
Deflection
For a more detailed version of the deflection of the beam,
From the 'General Postproc' menu select Plot results > Contour Plot > Nodal
Solution. The following window will appear.
Select 'DOF solution' and Displacement vector sum as shown. Click 'OK'.
Looking at the scale, you may want to use more useful
intervals. From the Utility Menu select Plot Controls >
Style > Contours > Uniform Contours...

The deflection can also be obtained as a list as shown below. General
Postproc > List Results > Nodal Solution select 'DOF Solution' and 'ALL
DOFs' from the lists in the 'List Nodal Solution' window and click 'OK'. This
means that we want to see a listing of all degrees of freedom from the
solution.
Axial Stress



From the General Postprocessor menu select Element Table > Define Table
Click on 'Add..



Click on 'OK' and close the 'Element Table Data' window.
As shown above, enter 'SAXL' in the 'Lab' box. This specifies the name of the item you are defining.
Next, in the 'Item,Comp' boxes, select 'By sequence number' and 'LS,'. Then enter 1 after LS, in the
selection box
Plot the Stresses by selecting Element Table > Plot
Elem Table
List the Stresses From the 'Element Table' menu, select 'List Elem Table'
From the 'List Element Table Data' window which appears ensure 'SAXL' is
highlighted
Click 'OK'