Chapter 4: Modal Analysis

This tutorial demonstrates how to perform a modal analysis in ANSYS AIM.

In this tutorial you will learn how to

• Launch ANSYS AIM.

• Import the geometry.

• Create computational mesh.

• Set up the simulation which includes setting the material properties and boundary conditions.

• Calculate a solution.

• Examine the results.

4.1. Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes that you have limited experience with ANSYS AIM so each step will be explicitly
described.

4.2. Problem Description

4.3. Setup And Solution

4.3.1. Preparation
1. Set up a working folder on the computer you will be using.

2. Copy the file (AIM_WindTurbine.scdoc), to the working folder.

4.3.2. Starting AIM

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Modal Analysis

1. From the Windows Start menu, select Start > All Programs > > ANSYS 16.0 > ANSYS AIM 16.0 to start
a new ANSYS AIM session.

This displays the ANSYS AIM application window. The various Simulation Process Templates are
displayed in the Study panel at the left. The Help window is on the right-hand side of the screen.
It contains links to instructional videos and the Help menu. The Workflow tab is displayed at the
bottom.

2. In the Study panel you can enter an appropriate name for the case like Wind Turbine.

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 Setup And Solution

3. The model is in inches so you need to set the units. Select U.S. Customary from the selection list of Units.

Home( ) > Units > U.S. Customary

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Modal Analysis

Note

If the unit system is not in the list, click on Unit Systems.... In the Unit Systems dialog
box, ensure that the unit system you are interested in is de-selected in column D or the
Suppressed column.

4.3.3. Geometry
1. Select Structural from the Simulation Process Templates.

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 Setup And Solution

2. In the Structural Template retain the selection of Structural only from the list under Physics.

3. Select Modal from the list under Calculation type.

4. Retain the selection of Detect contact automatically.

5. Click Create Simulation Process.

This will setup the workflow for the modal analysis.

6. In the window that opens browse to your working folder, select the geometry file AIM_WindTur-
[Link] and click Open.

The geometry is loaded and you can see what is happening in the lower right corner in the progress
bar. In importing a parametric geometry there are two steps. First step is to import the geometry
and second step is to expose the parameters. In the Simulation Process panel Geometry is marked
as up to date.

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Modal Analysis

As you can see the geometry is a wind turbine made up of a shaft, three blades and a hub. It is
about 100 feet high. In the Workflow tab you can see the tasks setup. You need to mesh the
geometry, then set up the physics and finally check the results.

7. Before proceeding you need to check the geometry. You can either click on the Geometry tab in the
Simulation Process panel, you can click on the Geometry cell in the Workflow tab, or you can go through
the navigation toolbar.

a. In the Geometry panel you can click on Sources under Objects and you check the Location of the
your imported geometry file. You can also see that the Geometry task shows Up-to-date status.

b. Under Geometry Preferences remove the text for Dimension key. After you erase the Dimension
key the status of Geometry panel is Out-of-date.

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 Setup And Solution

8. You can update the Geometry panel either by clicking on the Update button (with a lightning bolt) in
the panel (top and bottom), under the Workflow tab or you can right-click and select Update from the
context menu.

Note

You can see that the parameters have now been imported.

9. After refreshing the geometry you can see that a Dimensions property has been added to the Geometry
panel. That property contains the thickness and height dimensions that were defined in Space Claim.

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Modal Analysis

To expose these dimensions as parameters click on the triangular button next to the text box and select
Parametrize.

10. Go back to the Workbench window by clicking on Project. You can see that a Parameter Set appears.
Double click on the Parameter Set.

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 Setup And Solution

• In the Parameter Set window under Outline of Parameters rename the parameters P1 and P2 to
more descriptive names, such as thickness and height.

11. Save the project Wind_Turbine.

12. Go back to the Geometry tab in the navigation bar.

4.3.4. Mesh
1. Now you need to Mesh the geometry. You can do this by either:

• Clicking on the Mesh cell in the Workflow tab.

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Modal Analysis

• Or, in the Geometry panel under Connected Tasks click on Mesh.

2. The Mesh panel shows the Out-of-date status. You can see that Structural, thermal or electric cond.
is selected for Engineering intent which will set the meshing preferences accordingly. By default, the
slider bar for Mesh resolution is set to below medium. Generate the mesh by clicking on the Generate
Mesh button (with a lightning bolt) in the panel (top and bottom), or Workflow tab or you can right-click
and select Generate Mesh from the context menu.

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 Setup And Solution

Figure 4.1: Mesh with Default Settings

Note

As you can see in Figure 4.1: Mesh with Default Settings (p. 11), the default mesh settings
produced a refined mesh in the shaft, but a coarse mesh in the blades.

3. Click on Statistics under Output. You can see that the Number of nodes is approximately 68000 and
the Number of elements is approximately 24000.

4. To improve the mesh in the blades you will set a local size control for the blade. In the Mesh panel you
can change the mesh settings under Global Sizing and under Mesh Controls. In this case you can change
the Size Controls.

a. Click on Add next to Size Controls and select Body Sizing from the list. The same can be chosen
by right-clicking on the graphics window and choosing the same options from the context menu

b. Ensure that Body Selection is selected from the selection boxes at the top.

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Modal Analysis

c. Select all the three blades by holding down the Ctrl key and click on the Add selected entities
button under Location in the Body Sizing panel.

d. Enter 8 in for Element size.

e. To document the step rename Body Sizing to Blade size = 8 in.

5. Go back to Mesh in the navigation bar. You can see that it is Out-of-date now since the sizing is changed.

6. Generate the mesh by clicking on the Generate Mesh button (with a lightning bolt) in the panel (top and
next to Output), or Workflow tab or you can right-click and select Generate Mesh from the context
menu.

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 Setup And Solution

Figure 4.2: Refined Mesh

7. You can see from Figure 4.2: Refined Mesh (p. 13), that the mesh in the blades is now more refined. You
can check Statistics under Output and see that the Number of nodes is now approximately 96000 and
the Number of elements is approximately 38000.

4.3.5. Physics
Navigate to Physics. You can do this by either:

• Clicking on the Physics cell in the Workflow tab

• Or, in the Mesh panel under Connected Tasks click on Physics, or

• Or, right-click in the graphics window and select Add Next Task > Physics Solution

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Modal Analysis

In the Physics panel you can check the following:

• Under Settings the Calculation type is set to Modal.

• Click Physics Region and you can see that 7 volumes make up this region.

Note

While it is possible to remove volumes, it rarely done in a modal analysis.

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 Setup And Solution

• Click Material Assignments. You can see that Structural Steel is the assigned material. If you click on
Structural Steel branch underneath you can see all the properties for Structural Steel. If required you
can change any of the properties here or you can pick any other material from the Material drop-down
list.

• Click on Physics Options. You can see that the Brick integration type is set to Program controlled.
you can retain the default settings.

• Clicking on Interface Conditions you can see there are 7 connections or contact regions. If you click
on any of those it will explain on how the bonded contact is.

1. Under Solver Options in the Physics panel click Solver Settings.

a. In the Solver Settings panel enter 10 for Max modes to find.

Note

The number of modes to extract is a user defined option, but specifying a large
number will increase the solution time.

b. The Equation solver type is set to Program controlled. Retain the default settings.

c. Retain the default settings for Output Controls. You can see that it will give a Nodal dof solution.

2. Now go back to Physics panel.

Note

You can solve now, if there is no red flags requiring attention. However, you do not
have any restraints defined, so the first three modes will be free-free modes with zero
frequency. The wind turbine is actually restrained at its base, so you will add a fixed
support boundary condition to the bottom face of the shaft.

a. Click on Add and select Support from the list.

You can also right-click in the graphics window and select Add >Boundary Condition>Support.

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Modal Analysis

Ensure that Face selection is enabled.

b. Select the face shown in Figure 4.3: Face Selection for Support (p. 16).

Figure 4.3: Face Selection for Support

c. Click the + sign next to Location text box to add the selected face.

3. The Physics task is now ready to be updated. You can update it by either clicking on Solve Physics button
(with a lightning bolt) at the panel top, next to Output, Workflow tab, or you can right-click and select
Solve Physics from the context menu.

You can see the status in the progress bar. In the Workflow tab you can also check the Transcript
tab for the all the details.

4. When the solver run is complete the Physics panel shows the Up-to-date status. You can see that Eigen-
values now appears in the Physics panel below Output.

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 Setup And Solution

The Eigenvalues table contains the calculated frequencies for the first 10 modes.

4.3.6. Results
Click on Results in the Workflow tab.

1. Click Add and select Displacement Magnitude from the drop-down menu.

2. Select Mode 1 in the Displacement Magnitude panel.

3. Change the title name to Mode 1.

4. Now click Evaluate or right-click in the graphics window and select Evaluate Results. See Figure 4.4: Mode
1 Deformation (p. 18).

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Modal Analysis

Figure 4.4: Mode 1 Deformation

Note

You will see a displaced shape for mode 1. In Modal analysis the animation is particularly
important since it shows the movement of the mode.

5. To animate a mode shape, RMB in the graphics window and click on Animate. You can see that mode 1
is dominated by shaft bending.

6. To see the exaggerated shape, you can make changes in the graphics. Go to the Results panel. Under
Graphics Control select 5x auto from the Deformation scaling drop-down list.

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The scaling only affects the image. SeeFigure 4.5: Exaggerated View of Mode 1 Deformation (p. 19).

Figure 4.5: Exaggerated View of Mode 1 Deformation

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Modal Analysis

7. You can add more results to check the different modes. As per the steps listed above add a displacement
magnitude result for mode 6. Figure 4.6: Mode 6 Deformation (p. 20) shows the exaggerated view for the
deformation.

Figure 4.6: Mode 6 Deformation

Mode 6 contains some shaft bending, but it is dominated by rotation and bending of the blades.

8. Similarly if you check the displacement magnitude results for mode 9 you will find there is shaft bending,
blades rotation and blade bending in 2 directions. Note the image is highly exaggerated.

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 Setup And Solution

9. If you go to the Results panel you can see in the list the three results of the three modes you have added.
You can see the contour images if you hover on the links of the modes.

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Modal Analysis

You can parameterize the calculated frequency for each of the modes.

a. Click on Mode 1.

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 Setup And Solution

b. Click on Global under Summary.

c. Click on the Parameterize button next to Frequency.

10. Similarly parameterize Mode 6 and Mode 9 frequencies.

Note

Periodically save the project.

11. Now that the frequencies are parameterized, you can use the Workbench Parameter Manager to assess
the effect of changing the input parameters. If you go back to the Workbench window by clicking on
Project you can see that the Parameter Set is now in a closed loop. Double click on the Parameter Set.

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Modal Analysis

a. In the Outline of Parameters you can now see the Input Parameters which are the geometry
parameters, as well as the three Output Parameters which are the frequencies for the different
modes.

b. In the Table of Design Points you can see all these in a row. You will now check the effects of
changing geometry parameters on the results. Even though you are more interested in the Mode 1
Frequency output parameter it will be good to check the other modes as well.

Right click on row DP 0 (Current) and select Duplicate Design Point from the context menu.

c. Set P2 – height to 1210.

Note

This design point allows you to assess how a 10% increase in the shaft length affects
the calculated frequencies. Frequency is a function of stiffness divided by the mass.
Increasing the shaft length does not significantly affect the total mass of the wind
turbine, but it will decrease the stiffness of the shaft. Thus, increasing the shaft
length should decrease the calculated frequencies, particular for Mode 1 which is
dominated by shaft bending.

d. Right-click on DP 1 and select Update Selected Design Points from the context menu.

Note

You can see from the result that the frequency has been reduced for all the modes.

e. For one more example, right-click on row DP 1 and select Duplicate Design Point from the context
menu.

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 Summary

If you want to increase the shaft height without decreasing the frequencies, you can increase
the shaft stiffness by increasing its wall thickness.

f. Now increase the thickness of the shaft by 50% by changing P1 – thickness to 6, right-click select
Update Selected Design Points from the context menu. You will retain the 1210 for P2 — height.

Note

You can see from the results that increasing the shaft wall thickness increases the
calculated frequency for Mode 1. Increasing the shaft thickness does not significantly
affect the Mode 6 and Mode 9 frequencies, because they are dominated by blade
bending rather than shaft bending.

4.4. Summary
This tutorial demonstrated how to use the ANSYS AIM interface to perform a modal analysis. Only a
few user inputs were required. You were able to list the calculate frequencies and plot and animate the
mode shapes. You then used design points in the Workbench Parameter Manager to assess the effect
that changing the shaft thickness and length has on the calculated frequencies.

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