Hello all:
I've been working on getting FEA going for the small company I work for. I've encountered several challenges so far; I've learned a lot too. I'm finding it too easy to lead myself to believe every change I make is going to be the key to a more accurate simulation.
I'm trying to simulate destructive testing. I'd like to describe what I'm trying at this point and see if anyone has some suggestions on how I could improve. I'll more than welcome any questions, general discussion, or criticism. I'm just trying to learn more.
Here is the sample part I'm trying to simulate (2" x 2" x 3/16" tube). It is a weldment and I have bonded contacts on everything verified by the review geometry tool:
I have fixed displacement on the surfaces (lower bottom and middle, opposite side). I modified the mesh to be thin solid where possible. I also made the middle volume of the tube have smaller elements (0.3 in). I applied a load equal to just half of what I tested to be the max force of 6000 lbf (1500 lbf on each hole).
My material definition is below. The only other thing I specify here is the user defined property of the modulus of rigidity (11,600 ksi).
One of my big challenges has been getting a material curve that seems reasonable. I'm sure this could be a discussion on its own. Here is my material hardening curve:
I've been running a staic analysis. I've tried with snap-through and without. I see little to no difference. I've tried running user defined output steps varying from 11-501 with little difference. Here is the analysis I run:
So when I run this, at the previously stated half of max load, the simulation fails at step 32 of 100:
My results show a barely deformed sample with less than plastic deformation stress and very little strain:
If anyone has suggestions or general input about what I'm seeing here, I'd like to hear it!
Thanks for taking the time to look at this!