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Engineering Consulting Firm

Super Elastic Alloy

Eyeglass Frame
Design Using the
ANSYS Workbench
Environment
Peter R. Barrett, P.E.
Patrick Cunningham,
g , M.S.M.E

© 2011 CAE Associates – 1579 Straits Turnpike, Suite 2B, Middlebury, CT 06762 – (203) 758-2914
 Super
Super Elastic
Elastic Alloy
Alloy Eyeglass
Eyeglass Frame
Frame Design
Design
Using
Using the
the ANSYS
ANSYS Workbench
Workbench Environment
Environment
Peter R. Barrett, P.E.
Patrick Cunningham

60 Middle Quarter Mall

Woodbury, CT. 06798
(203)263-4606 Fax (203)266-9049

© 2004 ANSYS, Inc. ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Analysis Goal

• The goal of the analysis is to determine the configurations of the

eyeglass frame that can tolerate being stepped on and still be capable
of recovery meeting stiffness design requirements.

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 Analysis Tools

• Demonstrate the use of sensitivity analysis at the

concept stages of an eyeglass frame design.
• Tools used include:
– The ANSYS Workbench Environment
• Parametric geometry is created using DesignModeler
• Boundary conditions, material constants, and meshing
controls are defined using the Simulation tool.
• Sensitivity studies are run using DesignXplorer
– ANSYS’s super-elastic material model

© 2004 ANSYS, Inc. ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Integration of the Analysis Tools

DesignModeler
• Develop fully parametric geometry
models.
• Remove geometric details that have
little bearing on the analysis result.
• Slice up geometry and reform parts
to enable sweep meshing in the
Simulation tool.
Simulation
• Define material models.
• Auto or manually define contact
element pairs.
• Apply boundary conditions.
• Apply Solution Controls.
• Debug the initial analysis run.
• Define input and output variables for
the sensitivity study.
DesignXplorer
• Define tolerances on the input
• Determine the critical parameters of
the system.
• Optimize within the input/response
characterization.
• Create a deterministic result of the
optimum configuration.
© 2004 ANSYS, Inc. ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
 Design Modeler Parametric Model
Development

• The geometric model is built

using the parametric feature
capabilities of the
Workbench/DesignModeler
tool.
• Each dimension used in the
development of the
geometry is converted to a
named parameter that is
accessible as an input
variable for the sensitivity
study.
• Parameter relationships and
dependences are defined to
prevent conflicts during
model regeneration

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 Setting up the Analysis Environment

• Once the geometry is

complete in DesignModeler it
is attached in the Simulation
Tool
• Meshing, material properties,
boundary conditions, and
solution controls are defined
in the solution tool
• Toggling between the design
and analysis tools is possible
at any time using the
Workbench tabs

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 Meshing in Workbench

• DesignModeler is also
used to slice the
geometry in the
desired regions to
enable automatic
sweep meshing in the
DesignSimulation
tool.

• Mesh sizing controls

are added in the
DesignSimulation
tool.

• A coarse finite
element mesh is used
for this example.
© 2004 ANSYS, Inc. ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
 Super Elastic Material Model

• Nitinol is an acronym for Nickel Titanium Naval

Ordinance Laboratory since the alloy was
originally developed at the U.S. Naval Laboratory.
• It is used to describe a family of materials, which
contain a nearly equal mixture of nickel and
titanium.
• Nitinol alloys are attractive because they are
biocompatible and are at their optimum super-
elastic behavior (9% strain fully recoverable) at
room temperature when processed properly.

© 2004 ANSYS, Inc. ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Stress vs. Strain for a Nitinol Material
Model using ANSYS

• Constant Definition
• SIG-SAS (C1) Starting stress value for the forward phase transformation
• SIG-FAS (C2) Final stress value for the forward phase transformation
• SIG-SSA (C3) Starting stress value for the reverse phase transformation
• SIG-FSA (C4) Final stress value for the reverse phase transformation
• EPSILON (C5) Maximum residual strain
• ALPHA (C6) α material responses ratio between tension and compression
• YMRT (C7) Modulus for Martensite (This is Beta in 8.0/8.1)

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 Material properties

• The material
properties are
defined in the
Simulation tool
using the
Preprocessing
Command Builder.

• The Preprocessing
Command Builder
enables access to
the ANSYS
material model
GUI.

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 Creating Rigid Target Surfaces

• In the Workbench Simulation

module contact pairs are
automatically defined between
adjacent parts when the
geometry is attached.

• For this case we have opted

to define the crushing
surfaces as rigid target
elements which do not require
underlying solid elements.

• As a result, the rigid target

surfaces and the contact pairs
are defined using APDL
commands.
© 2004 ANSYS, Inc. ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
 Creating contact pairs using APDL

• The first step in the APDL

generation of the contact
pairs is to identify the
surfaces on the model
where the contact elements
will be generated.

• This is easily done by

defining Named Selections
for the top and bottom
surfaces in the Simulation
tool.

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 Named Components in Workbench

• The named surface

selections on the solid
geometry will be
transferred to ANSYS
as nodal components.
• Named Solids will be
transferred as Element
Groups
• Loads are transferred
as surface effect
elements that can be
further modified in
ANSYS
© 2004 ANSYS, Inc. ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
 Defining Contact Pairs using APDL

• The Preprocessing
Commands worksheet is
used to define the target
elements in the following
fashion:
– Use *get commands to
determine the maximum
element type number and
real table defined.
– Define new contact and
target element type
numbers.
– Define new real tables for
the contact pairs
– Use APDL commands to
directly generate the nodes
and elements of the rigid
target surfaces.

© 2004 ANSYS, Inc. ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Defining Contact Pairs using APDL

• The Preprocessing
Commands worksheet
is also used to define
the contact elements:
– Select the nodal
components of the top
and bottom surfaces.
– Select solid elements
attached to the nodes.
– Specify element
attributes.
– Use ESURF to generate
the contact elements.

© 2004 ANSYS, Inc. ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Defining Contact Pairs using APDL

Notes:
– A self contact pair is defined around the perimeter of
the lens frame. This pair could also have been defined
using the manual contact capability in the Workbench
Simulation tool.
– The target surfaces could also be defined using
surface geometry and the resulting shell elements
converted to rigid target elements using the EMODIF
command in the Preprocessing Commands worksheet.

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 Boundary Conditions

• The following boundary conditions

are applied to the model:
1. A frictionless support is applied
on the bridge of the glasses to
establish reflective symmetry.
This is applied as a support
inside the Simulation
environment.
2. The lower rigid target is fixed in
all degrees of freedom. This
constraint is defined using the
Processing Command
worksheet.
3. The upper rigid target is
displaced –1” in the vertical
direction. This constraint is
defined using the Processing
Command worksheet.

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 Solution Controls

• The nonlinear solution

controls are defined
using the Preprocessing
Command Builder.

• Multiple load steps

(loading and unloading)
are defined using the
solution controls menu.

• Does require adding

SOLVE commands to the
Preprocessor Command
Builder

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 Initial Solution in the Simulation Tool

• Prior to the sensitivity

study, an initial solution
is generated by solving
in the Simulation
environment.

• This is not a required

step, but it is always
recommended,
particularly for debugging
the nonlinear solution.

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 Postprocessing the initial Simulation

• Postprocessing of the
initial simulation run can
be done with a
combination of the
standard Simulation
solution tools and the
Postprocessing
Command Builder.
• The Simulation
environment only has
access to the last
converged solution and
the results are limited to
linear quantities with the
exception on contact
results.
© 2004 ANSYS, Inc. ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
 Postprocessing the initial simulation

• The Postprocessing
Command builder can be
used to look at the full
contents of the ANSYS
result file.
• All results steps written
to the ANSYS result file
are accessible.
• All nonlinear results are
accessible
• Time history plots and
result combinations are
also possible using the
result viewer.

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 Time History plots using the Postprocessing
Command Builder

• The Postprocessing Command builder can be used to plot the

hysteresis response of the shape memory alloy.

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 Time History plots using the Postprocessing
Command Builder

• Result plots and

listings from the
Postprocessing
Command Builder
can be returned to
the Simulation
Environment.
These figures are
then included in the
design report.

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Setting up the Sensitivity study environment

• Once the initial solution is

resolved, input and output
variables for the sensitivity
study are defined in the
simulation environment.
• Input and output variables are
defined by checking the box to
the left of the parameter.
• In this case we specify the
defining geometric parameters
as the input variables

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Setting up the Sensitivity study environment

• The output variables

for this study are the
Von Mises stress and
the deformation in the
load direction.
• The stress can be used
to simulate the elastic
response, while the
displacement is used
to measure stiffness

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 DOE Method of Design Explorer

• When the data is

attached to a
DesignXplorer
session, the upper
and lower bounds
(or discrete values)
of the input variables
must be defined.

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 Design Explorer DOE – Solution

• For the DOE method

used by
DesignXplorer the
number of
deterministic
solutions required is
automatically
determined based
on the number of
input variables.

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 Design Explorer DOE – Solution

• Sensitivity of Max.
Von Mises stress vs.
Frame thickness and
Frame bottom radius
are illustrated in the
Figure.
• As expected the larger
the larger radius /
thinner frame
produces the lowest
stress values
• Specific data is
extracted from the
Response Tabs
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 Design Explorer DOE – Solution

• “Soft” Design Sets

are created in
Design Explorer
directly from the
DOE
• A chosen design can
then be run explicitly
to get the hard
design results
• Data can also be
exported to a
spreadsheet for
integration into
design rules, etc.

© 2004 ANSYS, Inc. ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Conclusions

• The combination of design modeler,

design simulation and design
explorer provide a valuable tool for
upfront engineering
• Complex material models and
Highly nonlinear analyses were
easily adapted into the workbench
environment
• Sensitivity results (example on
right) provide valuable data for the
design engineer to quickly
determine the most relevant design
parameters

© 2004 ANSYS, Inc. ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary