Learning Forum

[Cristiano Veloso]

I am trying to prepare a 1/4 model simulation of a ball impact on a composite plate modelled using Tshell elements and with tiebreak contacts. I managed to successfully run an identic model to the one I want but with shell elements, however when I apply the exact same conditions, only changing from *ELEMENT_SHELL to *ELEMENT_TSHELL (by modelling each ply with Tshells with EleGen -> Solid -> Shell_Thickness, as in this video) and from *PART_COMPOSITE to *PART_COMPOSITE_TSHELL, the simulation ends within the first timestep, with all parts disappering. I have tried to run the simulation with different Tshell formulations, but none of them worked, and I cannot identify the issue(s) that contribute to the error. Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

P.S.: I though it would be possible to upload the keyword files of both simulations, but I could not find how to do it, you can find them in this Dropbox link.

[Ram Gopisetti]

hi Chrisriano, if you are seeking help from ANSYS Engineers, do post the images inline and as an ANSYS engineer, we cannot open the links in the description. 

cheers, Ram 

[Cristiano Veloso]

I am going to try to depict my problem through images, but let me know if you need any further data. This is my 1/4 model (with L0x representing a given ply, and I01 the ball) and its boundary conditions, symmetry condition and segments created (with the same number of the respective part).

The list of keywords, the contacts (tiebreak and ball to plate) and the generation of a *PART_COMPOSITE for each ply are as follows:

This simulation runs correctly to its termination. The only thing that changes for the Tshell simulation is the definition of Tshells instead of thin shells:

This simulation ends at the first timestep, with all entities disappering (with visualization with the d3plot file). This is an excerpt of the lsrun.out file:

       1 t 0.0000E+00 dt 9.00E+05 flush i/o buffers            06/04/23 17:00:12
       1 t 0.0000E+00 dt 9.00E+05 write d3plot file            06/04/23 17:00:12
 
 *** termination time reached ***
       1 t 9.0000E+05 dt 9.00E+05 write d3dump01 file          06/04/23 17:00:12
       1 t 9.0000E+05 dt 9.00E+05 write d3plot file            06/04/23 17:00:12

 N o r m a l    t e r m i n a t i o n                          06/04/23 17:00:12

 Memory required to complete solution   :    4243K
 Additional dynamically allocated memory:      17M
                                   Total:      21M

Again, if you need more data please detail me what you need. Bear in mind that I am unexperienced in FEM and LS-DYNA, so it could be that the mistake is something rather basic, but I believe it should be something about the Tshell elements as with the thin shells the simulation runs fine. Thank you very much in advance.