Learning Forum

[Kwasi30]

Hello All,

      I am a newbie in Ansys. I have created a simplified concrete slab in 3D to understand how the load and stress work and relate to each other in the Ansys software. In this model, the concrete slab is placed on foundation with assigned foundation stiffness and fixed on both sides of the slab at the neutral axis. I will like to determine the longitudinal and lateral stresses at the bottom of the concrete slab to compare to the analytical calculations.

Is it there a way of determining these stresses in Ansys?

[peteroznewman]

Hello,

Yes, ANSYS Static Structural system includes an Elastic Foundation support where you can type in the stiffness.
Below is a 3 x 1 x 0.1 m slab of concrete. I added gravity and applied a pressure to the top face.

Here is the Longitudinal (X-axis) and Lateral (Z-axis) Normal stress in two views of the slab.

 

The ANSYS 19.1 Workbench Project archive .wbpz file is attached to this post.

[Kwasi30]

Thanks so much Peter for your response. Very helpful information which confirms my initial thought.

Please I have read some literatures about the concrete properties in Ansys not being able to directly represent the actual concrete properties. I am not very familiar with the usage of the commands to reflect the plasticity properties but is it alright to insert the plasticity properties directly in the engineering data of the material?

Best Regards,

Jack

[peteroznewman]

Hello Jack,

One of the better material models for concrete plasticity is the microplane model, used in combination with the newer coupled-physics elements. These models have shown excellent correlation with experimental data.

There is a substantial learning curve to become familiar with using plasticity material models. There are many plasticity models to choose from. Most of them can be found in the Engineering Data library. Each material model has its own set of property values. Those values usually require some experimental data.

There is a Technical Note on concrete in the ANSYS Help system.  Here is a good discussion to read.