The Solid Mechanics (solid) interface (
), found under the
Structural Mechanics branch (
) when adding a physics interface, is intended for general structural analysis of 3D, 2D, 1D, or axisymmetric bodies. In 2D, 1D, and 1D axisymmetry, plane stress, plane strain, or generalized plane strain assumptions can be used. The Solid Mechanics interface is based on solving the equations of motion together with a constitutive model for a solid material. Results such as displacements, stresses, and strains are computed.
The default material is a Linear Elastic Material. With either the Nonlinear Structural Materials Module or the Geomechanics Module, the physics interface is extended with more materials, for example, material models for plasticity, hyperelasticity, creep, and concrete. You can also add your own material models using an
External Stress-Strain Relation
When this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are also added to the Model Builder:
Linear Elastic Material,
Free (a boundary condition where boundaries are free, with no loads or constraints), and
Initial Values. For axisymmetric models, an
Axial Symmetry node is also added.
Then, from the Physics toolbar, you can add other nodes that implement, for example, solid mechanics material models, boundary conditions, and loads. You can also right-click
Solid Mechanics to select physics features from the context menu.
The Label is the default physics interface name.
The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the physics interface. Refer to such physics interface variables in expressions using the pattern
<name>.<variable_name>. In order to distinguish between variables belonging to different physics interfaces, the
name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and underscores (_) are permitted in the
Name field. The first character must be a letter.
The default Name (for the first physics interface in the model) is
solid.
From the Structural transient behavior list, select
Include inertial terms or
Quasistatic. Use
Quasistatic to treat the dynamic behavior as quasistatic (with no mass effects; that is, no second-order time derivatives). Selecting this option gives a more efficient solution for problems where the variation in time is slow when compared to the natural frequencies of the system. The default solver for the time stepping is changed from Generalized alpha to BDF when
Quasistatic is selected.
Select the Time stepping (method) as
Fixed (preferred) or
Free. The
Free option is in general not recommended for wave problems.
The typical wave speed cref is a parameter for the perfectly matched layers (PMLs) if used in a solid wave propagation model. The default value is
solid.cp, the pressure-wave speed. To use another wave speed, enter a value or expression in the
Typical wave speed for perfectly matched layers field.
Select to enable the Activate port sweep option. This option is used to compute the full scattering matrix when
Port conditions are used. For more details see
The Port Sweep Functionality subsection. The section only exists for 3D geometries.
This section will only be displayed if a mesh on NASTRAN® format, containing RBE2 elements, has been imported in an Import node under
Mesh. The purpose is to automatically create rigid connectors from RBE2 elements in the NASTRAN file.
In the menu in the section title, you can select Create Rigid Connectors from RBE2. The effect is that one rigid connector will be created for each RBE2 element in the imported file. This will happen for all physics interfaces in the
Interfaces list. Supported interfaces are: Solid Mechanics, Shell, Beam, and Multibody Dynamics. If there are RBE2 elements spanning more than one physics interface, they will be automatically connected.
The Automated Model Setup section is present in the Solid Mechanics, Shell, and Beam interfaces. In a model that contains several physics interfaces, you should use the automated model setup from only one of them, and make sure that all the involved interfaces are selected in the
Interfaces list.
To display this section, click the Show More Options button (
) and select
Advanced Physics Options in the
Show More Options dialog box. Normally these settings do not need to be changed.
The selection made in the Advanced Settings section can be overridden by the settings in the
Advanced section of the
Rigid Material,
Rigid Connector or
Attachment features.
In the Solid Mechanics interface, you can choose not only the order of the discretization, but also the type of shape functions: Lagrange or
serendipity. For highly distorted elements, Lagrange shape functions provide better accuracy than serendipity shape functions of the same order. The serendipity shape functions will however give significant reductions of the model size for a given mesh containing hexahedral, prism, or quadrilateral elements. In 1D components, there is no difference between Lagrange and serendipity shape functions.
The default is to use Quadratic serendipity shape functions for the
Displacement field. Using
Linear shape functions will give what is sometimes called
constant stress elements. Such a formulation will for many problems make the model overly stiff, and many elements may be needed for an accurate resolution of the stresses.
The physics interface uses the global spatial components of the Displacement field u as dependent variables. The default names for the components are (
u,
v,
w) in 3D. In 2D the component names are (
u,
v), and in 2D axisymmetry they are (
u,
w). In 1D and 1D axisymmetry the default component name is (
u). You can however not use the ‘missing’ component names in 2D or 1D as a parameter or variable name, since they are used internally.