Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics 1

Chapter 15
Explicit Dynamics
15.1 Basics of Explicit Dynamics
15.2 Step-by-Step: High-Speed Impact
15.3 Step-by-Step: Drop Test
15.4 Review
Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics Section 15.1 Basics of Explicit Dynamics 2

Section 15.1
Basics of Explicit
Dynamics
Key Concepts
Implicit Integration Methods
Explicit Integration Methods
Solution Accuracy
Integration Time Steps
Automatic Mass Scaling
Static Damping
Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics Section 15.1 Basics of Explicit Dynamics 3

Implicit Integration Methods

<Transient Structural> solves the above equation using the following

algorithm:

The parameters and are chosen to control characteristics of the

algorithm such as accuracy, numerical stability, etc.
It is called an implicit method because the response at the current time
step depends on not only the historical information but also the current
information; iterations are needed in a single time step.
Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics Section 15.1 Basics of Explicit Dynamics 4

Explicit Integration
Methods

<Explicit Dynamics> solves the above equation using the following

algorithm:

It is called explicit methods because the response at the current time can
be calculated explicitly; no iterations within a time step is needed.
Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics Section 15.1 Basics of Explicit Dynamics 5

Solution Accuracy

<Explicit Dynamics> uses the principle of conservation of energy to

monitor the solution accuracy.

It calculates overall energy at each cycle. If the energy error reaches a

threshold, the solution is regarded as unstable and stops. The default
threshold is 10%.
The Energy Error is defined by
Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics Section 15.1 Basics of Explicit Dynamics 6

The red curve

is the energy
error. In this
case, the
solution is
quite stable.
Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics Section 15.1 Basics of Explicit Dynamics 7

Integration Time Steps

With explicit methods, the integration time step needs to be small enough
to ensure stability and accuracy of the solution. The German
mathematicians, Courant, Friedrichs, and Lewy, suggested that, in a
single time step, a wave should not travel further than the smallest
element size, i.e.

where h is the smallest element size, c is the wave speed in the element.
Because of the CFL condition, when generating meshes for <Explicit
Dynamics>, make sure that one or two very small elements do not control
the time step. In general, a uniform mesh size is desirable for <Explicit
Dynamics> simulations.
Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics Section 15.1 Basics of Explicit Dynamics 8

Automatic Mass Scaling

The wave speed in an element is , where E is the Young's

modulus and is the mass density of the element. Further, ,
where m is the mass and V is the volume of the element.
Therefore the CFL condition yields

The idea of mass scaling is to artificially increase the mass of

small elements, so that the stability time step can be increased.
Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics Section 15.1 Basics of Explicit Dynamics 9

Static Damping

<Explicit Dynamics> is primarily

designed for solving transient
dynamic problems.
Using <Static Damping> option, a
steady-state solution can also be
obtained.
The idea is to introduce a damping
force, to critically damp the lowest
mode of oscillation.
Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics Section 15.2 High-Speed Impact 10

Section 15.2
High-Speed Impact
Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics Section 15.3 Drop Test 11
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