FRANC3D V6.0 with

ABAQUS V6.11.1

Analysis of a Welded Connection

Using *Tie Constraints

Written by:

Bruce Carter ( bruce@fac.cfg.cornell.edu )

Fracture Analysis Consultants, Inc (www.fracanalysis.com)

Written: March 2012

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Table of Contents:

1.0 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 3 2.0 Building the Model in ANSYS for Heat Transfer Analysis ................................................ 3

3.0 Performing a Structural Analysis .......................................................... 错误!未定义书签。

4.0 Performing the Fracture Analysis ........................................................................................ 4

Appendix .......................................................................................................... 错误!未定义书签。

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1.0 Introduction

This tutorial describes the steps needed to analyze cracking in a model of a weld connection

using FRANC3D V6.0 and ABAQUS V6.11.1. This tutorial does not describe how to build the

ABAQUS model of the weld connection; but images of the model and some of the *Tie

constraints are provided for reference. Note that we maintain all the *Part/*Instance/*Assembly

information during the fracture simulation process.

2.0 Illustrating the ABAQUS Model of a Weld Connection

The ABAQUS model of the simple welded connection is shown in Figure 1. Two plates are

welded together. The model is composed of the following parts: flange, frame, bottom weld, and

the top weld. The top weld is broken into three pieces and the central portion of the top weld

will be extracted from ABAQUS for use with FRANC3D. Global and local portions of the mesh

are defined, Figure 2, and .inp files are written for each portion. Various parts of the model are

held together using ABAQUS’s *Tie constraints. Figure 3 shows some of the surfaces that are

involved; the welds are tied to the column (as well as the flange) – left image in Figure 3. The

top weld is made of three pieces that are tied together – right image in Figure 3.

Figure 1. ABAQUS model of a simple weld connection.

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Figure 2. ABAQUS global and local models of a simple weld connection.

Figure 3. ABAQUS *Tie constraint surfaces for a simple weld connection.

Once the two .inp files have been exported from ABAQUS, we can proceed with the fracture

analysis using FRANC3D.

3.0 Performing the Fracture Analysis

In this section, a crack is inserted and then propagated. First, we read the local .inp file that was

created in Section 2. Start FRANC3D and then Open File, switching the File Filter to ABAQUS

inp Files, and then select the appropriate .inp file. We wish to retain all of the material properties;

we will select the mesh facets to retain as well as selecting the contact/constraint surfaces, Figure

4. We select the two surfaces that represent the ends of the piece of weld and we retain the mesh

facets for these surfaces (middle panel of Figure 4). We select the four constraint surfaces (right

panel of Figure 4) without retaining the mesh; note that two of these surfaces have already been

selected in the previous panel.

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The above selections allow us to insert the crack in the weld and remesh around it while

maintaining a record of the surfaces that are involved in the original *Tie definitions. The

resulting model with retained mesh facets for one end of the weld is shown in Figure 5.

Figure 4: FE Mesh File select items to retain dialogs.

Figure 5: Local portion of weld with mesh facets retained on the ends.

We will insert a through crack, Figure 6, which is 2 mm wide and penetrates the weld. The

template radius is set to 0.1, Figure 7, so that the template mesh fits within the bottom narrow

surface of the weld geometry. ABAQUS is used to do the volume meshing.

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Figure 6: Through crack dimension and position/orientation dialogs.

Figure 7: Through crack template radius dialog along with the meshing parameter dialog.

The resulting cracked and remeshed model is shown in Figure 8. Note that ends of the weld

have the original mesh facets retained while the surfaces that were tied to the frame and the

flange have been remeshed.

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Figure 8: Final meshed crack model.

We will perform a ‘static’ analysis using ABAQUS. Choose Analysis and Static Crack

Analysis from the menu bar. Provide a file name (weld_step_000.fdb) and choose ABAQUS as

the finite element analysis program. The analysis options are shown in Figure 9. We select the

global model .inp file to connect to this local portion, and then select Next.

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Figure 9. Static analysis options for ANSYS.

The next dialog box provides the user with options for connecting the local and global portions.

We will use the existing *Tie definitions. When we select this radio button, the Merge

Parts/Instances check box, Figure 10, is automatically selected. Select Finish to start the

ABAQUS analysis of the combined local/global model.

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Figure 10: Static analysis ABAQUS local/global model connection dialog.

Once ABAQUS has finished running, we can compute the SIFs; choose Cracks and Compute

SIFs from the menu. In the dialog that is presented, Figure 11, select M-integral and then select

Finish to plot the SIFs, Figure 12. Note that there are two crack fronts, so two plots will be

displayed and the SIFs vary along the crack front as identified by the red A – B on the plot.

ABAQUS should automatically write the results to a .fil file that FRANC3D automatically reads.

You can view the deformed shape, Figure 13, or other field variables using ABAQUS by reading

the .odb file that ABAQUS should generate.

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Figure 11: Compute SIFs dialog.

Figure 12: M-Integral based SIFs.

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Figure 13: Compute SIFs dialog.