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plate element thickness

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Message 1 of 3
madg1
1099 Views, 2 Replies

plate element thickness

Hello

 

This one is a basic question......

If i used plate elements to mesh my model....what  value  i need to put in element definition thickness....

say i got 1 inch thick gusset plate and modeled with plate elemnts...do i neeed to input half of the value which is 0.5 inches or full plate thickness 1 inch.....please clarify

 

and also while meshing do i need to define the element size as 1 inch....or can i go less than that....

madg1
ASIMM 2012
2 REPLIES 2
Message 2 of 3
Sualp.Ozel
in reply to: madg1

Sounds like you need to revisit the meshing basics 

 

please watch the following series of videos 

 

http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/Simulation_Mechanical/enu/2013/Help/0000-Essentia0/0015-Meshing_15/0016...

 

Best regards

Sualp Ozel, PE

Message 3 of 3
AstroJohnPE
in reply to: Sualp.Ozel

Thanks Sualp, Joe S. did a great job on producing that video and clarifies the different mesh types.

 

The answers madg1's questions are as follows:

 

  • The thickness that is entered for plate elements is the total thickness of the part. The software performs its calculations as if half of the entered thickness is above the plate element, and half of the thickness is below. (I believe this question is related to the other thread on plate element thickness.) 
  • As far as I know, the required or desired dimension of the mesh has no relationship to the thickness of the plate IN linear stress and thermal analyses. In nonlinear analysis, there is a guideline. From the documentation page for shell elements,

"If the thickness of the shell elements is less than 1/10 of the length or
height, reduced integration is recommended. If the thickness of the shell
elements is greater than 1/10 of the length or height, full integration is
recommended."

 

I have a vague recollection that the documentation may have a mistake, but this needs to be confirmed by the nonlinear developers at Autodesk. The 1/10 number relates the thickness to the dimension of the element, not the dimension of the part. So those sentences should be something like this:

"If the thickness of the shell elements is less than 1/10 of the mesh size, reduced integration is recommended. If the thickness of the shell elements is greater than 1/10 of the mesh size, full integration is recommended.

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