Chapter 1

General FEA Process

LS-DYNA Background

Nonlinear Finite Element Modeling

and Simulation Using LS-Dyna

General FEA Process

Model Development - Pre-processing

Discretize Geometry: Nodes/Elements

Geometry properties: Thickness/Cross-section
Material properties

Solver - Solution processing

Numerical solution of equations of motion

Keyword Format
Structural Format

Example of an Input Deck

Computer Session

Pre-process : Model Setup

Solution-procedure: Solver
Post-process - Analysis

Post-processing: Results Analysis

Deformed geometry
Displacements, velocities, accelerations

Stress and strain

Reaction forces
Energies

Loading conditions
Constraints

Boundary conditions

General FEA Process

LS-DYNA Input Format

FEM Analysis Procedures

History
Capabilities
Application

FE Model Improvement

Update Model based on the analysis results

Iterative process until objectives achieved

General FEA Process

Model Development - Pre-processing

Background and History of LS-DYNA

DYNA3D developed at Lawrence Livermore National

Laboratory by John Hallquist

LS-INGRID, FEM-B
I-DEAS, True-Grid, EasiCrash
PATRAN, HyperMesh

Solver - Solution processing

LS-DYNA, PamCrash, RADIOSS

NASTRAN, ANSYS, Algor

Low velocity impact of heavy, solid structures, military

applications

Results Analysis - Post-processing

LS-TAURUS, LS-POST
HyperMesh

1976

1979

DYNA3D ported on Cray-1

Improved sliding interface

Order of magnitude faster

1981

Background and History of LS-DYNA

1986

Beams, Shells, Rigid Bodies

Single Surface Contact
Support for Multiple Computer Platforms

1988

Automotive Applications Support

LS-DYNA

1989

Full Commercial Version

LSTC

New material models - Explosive-structure, Soil-structure

Impacts of penetration projectiles

Background and History of LS-DYNA

1993
Keyword Format
Automatic Single Surface Contact
1st International LS-DYNA User Conference

1995
Training Lab Established at West Coast - LSTC

1997

Training Class Started at East Coast - NCAC/GWU

Today

Release of Version LS970, Many New Features

General Capabilities

Transient dynamics
Quasi-static simulations
Flexible and rigid bodies
Nonlinear material behavior
More than 80 constitutive relationships
More than 40 element formulation
Finite strain and finite rotation
General contact algorithm
Thermal Analysis
Explicit and implicit analyses

General Capabilities
Pre-stress and Post-stress (LS-NIKE3D)
Interactive graphics
Preprocessor - LS-INGRID
Third party interfaces
Postprocessor - LS-Taurus, LS-Post
Other rigid body program coupling
CAD data interface

Applications

Automotive, train, ship, and aerospace crashworthiness

Sheet and bulk forming process simulation
Engine blade containment and bird strike analysis
Seismic safety simulation
Weapons design and explosive detonation simulation
Biomechanics simulation

LS-DYNA Input File Format

Structured Input Format

Original Format
Organized by Entities
Fixed Format

Keyword Input Format

Started 1993
More Flexible

Easy to Modify Input Deck

Industrial accidents simulation

Drop and impact analysis of consumer product
Roadside Hardware Analysis

Virtual proving ground simulation

Keyword Format Input File

Keyword Format

Sections

Keyword format input file

List of Keyword options
Examples

Control, Material, Equation of State, Element, Parts, etc.

The * followed by keyword indicate beginning of

a section block.
The $ used for Comment Cards
Data blocks begin with keyword followed by data
pertaining to the keyword
Multiple Blocks with the same keyword are
permissible
Material and Contact types are defined by name
Keywords are alphabetically organized in manual

Keyword Format Input File

*KEYWORD
*TITLE
SAMPLE INPUT FILE
*CONTROL_TERMINATION
0.1000000
0 0.0000000
0 0.0000000
*DATABASE_BINARY_D3PLOT
1.00000-3
0
*DATABASE_BINARY_D3THDT
1.00000-3
*MAT_ELASTIC
1 7.89000-9 2.00000+5 0.3000000
*SECTION_SOLID
1
0
*SECTION_SHELL
1
2
1.0000000 1.0000000 1.0000000 1.0000000 0.0000000
*PART
PART NAME 1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0

Keyword Format Input File

*NODE
1 0.000000000E+00 0.000000000E+00 0.000000000E+00
2 7.000000000E+00 0.000000000E+00 0.000000000E+00
3 0.000000000E+00
4 7.000000000E+00
5 0.000000000E+00
6 7.000000000E+00
7 0.000000000E+00
8 7.000000000E+00
*ELEMENT_SOLID
1
1
1
2
*PART
PART NAME 1
2
2
2
*ELEMENT_SHELL
1
2
1
2

7.000000000E+00
7.000000000E+00
0.000000000E+00
0.000000000E+00
7.000000000E+00
7.000000000E+00
4

0
4

0
3

0.000000000E+00
0.000000000E+00
7.000000000E+00
7.000000000E+00
7.000000000E+00
7.000000000E+00

*NODE

NID x

*ELEMENT

EID PID N1 N2 N3

*PART

PID SID MID EOSID HGID

*SECTION_SHELL SID ELFORM SHRF NIP PROPT QR ICOMP

*MAT_ELASTIC

MID RO E PR DA DB

*EOS

EOSID

*HOURGLASS

HGID

*END

LS-DYNA Execution

Command Line

Example

LS-DYNA Execution

ls-dyna i=inputfile
ls940 r=d3dump01 memory=12000000

LS-DYNA Output Files

d3hsp

message
d3plot,d3plot01,

d3thdt,d3thdt01,

d3dump01,

runrsf

Ascii files (glstat, nodout, deforc, ..etc)

Chapter 2

*AIRBAG

Detail Capabilities of Keyword Format

Explicit FEM Theory

Computer session

$
$
*AIRBAG_SIMPLE_AIRBAG_MODEL_1
108
1
0 0.0000000 0.0000000 0.0000000 0.0000000 0.0000000
7.17000+8 1.00400+9 300.00000
1 0.7000000 0.0000000 0.1000000 1.2040-12
0

*BOUNDARY

*AIRBAG

Control volumes
Thermodynamic properties for the airbag inflator
models

Fixed (SPCs)
Prescribed motion
Thermal

Tires
Pneumatic dampers
Biomechanic parts

*CONSTRAINTED
Constraints within a structure between structural
parts

Nodal rigid bodies

Rivets

Welds

Linear constraints
Tying a shell edge to a shell edge with failure
Merging rigid bodies
Adding extra nodes to rigid bodies
Rigid body joints

*CONTACT

24 different contact types

Deformable to deformable bodies
Single surface contact in deformable bodies
Deformable body to a rigid body
Tying deformable structures (strain failure)
Modeling rebar in concrete structures
(*CONTACT_ID)

*CONTACT_ENTITY
Analytical rigid surface to deformable structure
Metal forming

Occupant Modeling

The punch and die surface geometry can be input as

VDA surfaces which are treated as rigid.
Treat contact between rigid body occupant dummy
hyper ellipsoids and deformable structures such as
airbags and instrument panels.

*CONTROL

Termination time
Hourglass type

Contact penalty scale factor

Shell element formulation
Numerical damping

Motion governed by rigid body mechanics or

prescribed translation and/or rotation (6 DOF)

*DATABASE

Controlling output
ASCII files

Binary files

*DEFINE

Curves
Boxes to limit geometric extent
Local coordinate systems

Vectors
Inputs to other options

*DEFORMABLE_TO_RIGID

Switch materials that are defined as deformable to

rigid at the start of the analysis
Cost effective method for simulating events such
as vehicle rollover

*ELEMENT

Beams
Concentrated masses
Dampers

Seat belts
Shells

Solids

Springs

Thick Shells

Basic Elements

*INCLUDE

Shells

Solids

Beams/Trusses

Split files into subfiles

Split subfiles into sub-subfiles, and so on

Controller

Discrete Elements

Nodes/Elements

*INITIAL

Initial velocities
Detonation and Momentum
Initial stresses

Initial temperatures

Vehicle

System Contact

Constrains

Contacts

Barrier

*LOAD

Concentrated point loads

Distributed pressures

Body force loads

Variety of thermal loadings

*MAT

*NODE

Constitutive constants for all material models

80+ structural materials

stress-strain relations

Nodal point identifiers

x, y, z coordinates

Translational constraint
Rotational constraint

8 spring/damping materials

F-d and F-v relationships

1 seat belt material

6 thermal materials

*PART

*RIGIDWALL

Relates parts ID between elements, sections,

material and hourglass control
For rigid material,rigid body inertia properties
and initial conditions can be specified through the
*PART command
Element 1
Part 1
Material 4

Material 2

Hourglass 2

Planar
Rectangular prism

Cylindrical prism

Spherical
Stationary or moving
Finite or infinite

Multiple walls can be defined to model

combinations of geometric shapes

Friction

10

*SECTION

Element type dependent

element formulation
integration rule
thickness or cross-section properties

*SET

Concept of grouping nodes, elements, parts, etc.

Examples

output acceleration, velocity, displacement for a set of

nodes
set of shell elements as slaves for a contact definition
define a cross section with a set of nodes and a set of
shells
single surface contract for all parts specified in a set of
parts

Used in *PART

Other Keywords
*DAMPING
*HOURGLASS
*INTEGRATION
*TITLE
*TRANSLATE
*USER_INTERFACE

Keyword Examples

Control Output

$ Termination Time
$
*CONTROL_TERMINATION
$...>
1
>
2
$
endtim
endcyc
6.01
0
$
$ Energy Computation
$
*CONTROL_ENERGY
$
i
i
$
hgen
rwen
2
2
$
$

>

3
dtmin
0.0

>
4
endneg
0.0

i
slnten

i
rylen

>
5
endmas
0.0

>

>

>

11

Keyword Examples

Keyword Examples

$
$ Time interval between state dumps (D3PLOT)
$
*DATABASE_BINARY_D3PLOT
$ DT/CYCL
LCDT
1.0
$
*DATABASE_EXTENT_BINARY
$
i
i
i
i
i
$
neiph
neips
maxint
strflg
sigflg
$
$

Control Output

i
cmpflg

i
ieverp
1

i
epsflg

i
rltflg

i
beamip

$
$ Time history data interval (D3THDT)
$
*DATABASE_BINARY_D3THDT
$ DT/CYCL
LCDT
999999
$

*DATABASE_RWFORC
$ DT/CYCL
0.1
$
*DATABASE_HISTORY_NODE
$
Define nodes that output into NODOUT
$
id1
id2
id3
id4
$...>
1
>
2
>
3
>
4
99999
414
486
$
*DATABASE_NODOUT
$ DT/CYCL
0.1
*DATABASE GLSTAT
$ DT/CYCL
0.1
*DATABASE_MATSUM
$ DT/CYCL
0.1
*DATABASE_SLEOUT
$ DT/CYCL
0.1

Contact Definitions

$
$ Define Contacts - Sliding Interfaces
$
*CONTACT_AUTOMATIC_SINGLE_SURFACE
$...>
1
>
2
>
3
>
4
>
5
$
ssid
msid
sstyp
mstyp
sboxid
0
$ Equating ssid to zero means that all segments are
$
$
fs
fd
dc
vc
vdc
0.08
0.08
$
$
sfs
sfm
sst
mst
sfst

>
6
mboxid

>

id5
5

>

id6
6

>

id7
7

>

id8
8

Keyword Examples

Keyword Examples

Control Output

>

7
spr

>

8
mpr

included in the contact

penchk

bt

dt

sfmt

fsf

vsf

Material and Parts

$
$ Define Materials and Parts
$
*MAT_PIECEWISE_LINEAR_PLASTICITY
$...>
1
>
2
>
3
>
4
$
mid
ro
e
pr
1 7.830E-06
200.0
0.3
$
$
c
p
lcss
lcsr
40
5
$ PLASTIC STRESS/STRAIN CURVES
$
eps1
eps2
eps3
eps4
$
es1
es2
es3
es4
0.000
0.080
0.160
0.400
0.207
0.250
0.275
0.290
$

>

5
sigy
0.207

eps5
es5
0.750
0.300

>

6
etan

eps6
es6

>

7
eppf
0.750

eps7
es7

>

8
tdel

eps8
es8

12

Keyword Examples

Keyword Examples

Material and Parts

$ PART DEFENITION
$
*PART
$
heading
corner1
$...>
1
>
2
>
3
>
4
>
5
$
pid
sid
mid
eosid
hgid
1
1
1
$
$
$ SHELL ELEMENT CROSS-SECTIONAL PROPERTIES
$
*SECTION_SHELL
$...>
1
>
2
>
3
>
4
>
5
$
sid
elform
shrf
nip
propt
1
2
3.0000
$
t1
t2
t3
t4
nloc
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
$

>
6
igrav

>
7
adpopt

>

>
6
qr/irid

>
7
icomp

>

Nodes and Elements

$
$ NODAL POINT CARDS
$
*NODE
$
$...>
1
>
2
>
3
>
4
$
NID
X
Y
99999
0.0
0.0
1 -5.00000000E+01 -4.80000000E+01
2 -4.16667000E+01 -4.80000000E+01
715 -5.80000000E+01 -2.40000000E+01
716 -5.80000000E+01 -3.20000000E+01
$
$ SHELL ELEMENTS
$
*ELEMENT_SHELL
$...>
1
>
2
>
3
>
4
$
EID
PID
N1
N2
N3
1
1
1
2
9
2
1
2
3
10
640
1
710
711
716
641
1
711
485
487
$

Constraints, Boundary, and Initial Conditions

$
$ Define Constraints, Boundary & Initial Conditions
$
$
*BOUNDARY_SPC_NODE
$...>
1
>
2
>
3
>
4
>
5
$
NID CID X Y Z RX RY RZ
1, 0,1,1,1, 1, 1, 1
2, 0,1,1,1, 1, 1, 1
3, 0,1,1,1, 1, 1, 1
252, 0,1,0,0, 0, 1, 1
259, 0,1,0,0, 0, 1, 1
$

>

>
Z
274.0
0.000000000E+00
0.000000000E+00
2.724830000E+02
2.724830000E+02

>

>

>

7
RC
0
0
0
0
0

>

>

>

TC
0
0
0
0
0

N4
8
9
715
716

Keyword Examples

Keyword Examples

>

>

>

Rigid Walls

$
$ Define Stone Walls
$
*RIGIDWALL_PLANAR_MOVING_FORCES
$.../
1
/
2
/
3
$
nsid
nsidex
boxid
0
0
0
$
$
xt
yt
zt
0.0
0.0
274.0
$
$ SW MASS
SW VEL
800.000
8.94000
$
$
SOFT
SSID
NODE1
0
0
99999
$

xh
0.0

yh
0.0

zh
0.0

NODE2

NODE3

NODE4

fric
1.0

13

Equations of Equilibrium

Finite Element Method Basic Theory

Equations of Equilibrium
Time Integration Loop
Element Formulation

Solid

Shell
Beam

Time Integration Schemes

Implicit
Explicit

Nonlinear Problems

Equation of Equilibrium

Equations of Equilibrium

Momentum Equation
Boundary Condition - Traction

Implicit Formulation
[M ][C [K]x[Fexternal]

Explicit Formulation

Boundary Condition - Displacement

[M ][F external ][F

ij

int ernal

Boundary Condition - Contact

Internal forces include the damping, stiffness, contact

forces, ..etc.

14

Time Integration Loop

Update nodal velocities,
displacements, and coordinates
Update displacements and
nodal coordinates

Write output databases

Apply force
boundary conditions

Compute kinematic based

contact and stone walls

Process brick, beam, shell,

and thick shell elements

Apply kinematic
boundary conditions

Update accelerations

Start

Process discrete elements

Process penalty based

contact

Chapter 3

Initial Conditions
Boundary Conditions
Loads

Chapter 3

Assume we have a model with the following defined:

nodes, elements,materials,properties,parts

What can we do to the model?

Apply initial conditions, boundaries conditions, loads,

constrains
We need to define: boxes, curves, sets, vectors

Rigid Walls
Constraints

What if parts collide or collapse on themselves?

use rigid walls ,contacts

How do we debug and/or analyze the model?

Output files

15

*SET - Nodes

Define a group (set) of nodes

assign a set identification number (SID)

define the nodes to be included (NID)

*SET_NODE_LIST

*DEFINE_BOX

Assign a box identification number (BOXID)

Define two extreme corners of the box

define the nodes 8 per line

Xmin - Xmax
Ymin - Ymax
Zmin - Zmax

define the nodes 1 per line

*DEFINE_CURVE

Define a (load) curve

Assign a load curve identification number (CLID)
Define the points of curve in pairs

Abscissa (x) - Ordinate (y)

*DEFINE_COORDINATE

Define a local coordinate system

Assign a coordinate system identification number
(CID)
*DEFINE_COORDINATE_NODES

Scaling

Offset
Examples

Force vs Time

Velocity vs Time

everything inside the box can be used as input

*SET_NODE_COLUMN

Define a box-shaped volume

3 nodes: local origin, along local x-axis, in local x-y plane

*DEFINE_COORDINATE_SYSTEM

x, y, z of three points (same as NODES)

*DEFINE_COORDINATE_VECTOR

2 vectors: local x-axis, local in-plane vector

16

*DEFINE_VECTOR

Define a vector
Assign a vector identification number (VID)
Define tail (xt, yt, zt) and head (xh, yh, zh)

Initial Conditions

Purpose - To set initial conditions

Detonation and momentum

Stresses
Temperature
Velocity

Initial stresses, temperatures and velocities are

equal ZERO by default
Boundary conditions override initial conditions

*INITIAL_DETONATION and
*INITIAL_MOMENTUM

Initial Velocity

Simulation an impulsive type of loading

Used for solid elements

Assign initial translational and rotational velocities

to nodes and bodies
*INITIAL_VELOCITY

Detonation - lighting explosive materials (parts)

p(t)pe

t/tau
0

Momentum - depositing an initial momentum on

an element

set of nodes
exclude a set of nodes

all nodes within a defined box

*INITIAL_VELOCITY_NODE

individual nodes

17

Initial Velocity

*INITIAL_VELOCITY_GENERATION

Boundary Conditions

for rotating and translating bodies

parts

set of parts
set of nodes

Purpose - To define imposed motions on

boundary Nodes

must be mutually exclusive from setting nodal initial

velocities

Convection, Flux, Radiation, Temperature

Cyclic
Non-reflecting, Sliding, Symmetry with Failure
(Solids)

Prescribed Motion
SPC

*BOUNDARY_CYCLIC

Solid Elements Only

Cyclic symmetry
Define axis of rotation vector

x, y and z vectors
vectors must be global

Define 2 boundary planes

(using node sets)

*BOUNDARY_NON_REFLECTING
stress gradient at boundary equals zero
moves with shock wave

boundary

*BOUNDARY_SLIDING_PLANE

constrain a set of nodes to move on an arbitrary

orientated plane or line

*BOUNDARY_SYMMETRY_FAILURE

symmetry plane fails upon defined tensile failure stress

18

*BOUNDARY_SPC
Single Point Constraints

*BOUNDARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION

Impose nodal motion on a node, set of nodes, or a

rigid body
Applicable to one degree-of-freedom
Motion

Fix (constrain) one or more degrees-of-freedom of

a node
Individual nodes or a set of nodes

*BOUNDARY_SPC_NODE
*BOUNDARY_SPC_SET

displacement
velocity

acceleration (nodes only)

May be defined in a local coordinate system

Motion prescribed by a curve

Loads

Purpose - To Define Applied Forces

Loads

Avoid single concentrated loads

Beam
Body
Heat, Temperature
Nodal and Rigid Body
Shell (pressure)

physically unrealistic
induce hourglass modes

Avoid instantaneous loading

Require a load curve

Loads can be scaled

19

*LOAD_BEAM

Distributed traction load along any local axis (r, s, t)

Beam or a set of beams

Force per unit length

*LOAD_BODY

Body force load due to a prescribed

A single degree-of-freedom: X, Y, Z, RX, RY, RZ

All nodes or a set of parts

*LOAD_NODE and
*LOAD_RIGID_BODY

Distributed Pressure Load

force acts normal to a plane

Global or local coordinate system

Apply a distributed pressure to a

Apply a load to a node, a set of nodes, or a rigid

body
x, y, or z force
x, y, or z moment
Follower force

base acceleration
angular velocity

segment
(*LOAD_SEGMENT)
set of segments (*LOAD_SEGMENT_SET)
shell
set of shells

(*LOAD_SHELL_ELEMENT)
(*LOAD_SHELL_SET)

Positive pressure acts in the negative normal

direction of the shell/segment
Arrival time of pressure

20

Rigid Walls

Purpose - To Define Rigid Surfaces

Simulate barriers, pendulums, crushers, etc.
Nodes are prevented from penetrating a surface
Wall energy in GLSTAT

Wall forces in RWFORC

*RIGIDWALL_PLANAR

Finite or infinite
Motion condition

fixed
moving: mass and velocity

Soft wall option

number of cycles to zero velocity

Wall tracking with extra nodes

Ortho

two separate friction coefficients normal to each other

example: rolling object - higher friction in transverse direction

*RIGIDWALL_GEOMETRIC

Constraints

Multiple geometric walls

can be defined to model
combinations of
available geometric
shapes

Purpose - Constrain Degree-of-Freedom Between

Parts

rivets and welts

tying shells to shells
tying shells to solids

various rigid body constraints (will discuss later)

Nodes must have mass

Nodes cannot be subjected to multiple,
independent, and possible conflicting constraints
SPCs cannot conflict with constraints

21

*CONSTRAINED_RIVET

*CONSTRAINED_SPOTWELD

Two-node rivet
Rigid massless truss

Acts similar to a pair of ball and socket joints

Nodes can not be coincident

Two-node spotweld
Rigid massless beam
No normal rotational stiffness transmitted from
shells
Nodes can not be coincident
Failure criteria
Sn = normal force at failure fn = normal interface force
Ss = shear force at failure
fs = shear interface force

Spotweld

*CONSTRAINED_GENERALIZED_WELD

Options: SPOT, FILLET, BUTT

Nodes may be coincident

Output can be specified in a local coordinate

system
Failure criteria

Nodal ordering and

orientation of the
local coordinate
system is important
for determining
spotweld failure

22

Fillet Weld

Butt Weld

Nodal ordering and

orientation of the
local coordinate
system is shown for
fillet weld

Orientation of the local coordinate system

and nodal ordering is shown

Weld Failure

Failure time

automatic failure at a specified time

Part Joining

*CONSTRAINED_NODE_SET

translation constraints for 2 or more nodes

x, y, z, or any combination

Ductile failure

due to plastic strain

effective nodal plastic strain > failp

Brittle failure

spotweld
fillet
*CONSTRAINT_NODE_SET

*CONSTRAINT_NODAL_RIGID_BODY
*CONSTRAIN_SPOTWELD

23

Fracturing Elements

Part Joining

*CONSTRAINED_SHELL_TO_SOLID

define a tie between a shell edges and solid elements

shell nodes can be constrained to stay on fiber vector
node rigid bodies can perform the same function

*CONSTRAINED_TIE-BREAK
shell

releases locally as a function of plastic strin

*CONSTRAINED_TIED_NODES_FAILURE

Other Part Joining Techniques

Coincident Nodes (merging Nodes)

tie nodes set (nodes must be coincident)

multiple nodes allowed (I.e., shells)
thin shells only
failure based on plastic strain

Other Part Joining Techniques

Nodal Rigid Bodies (more later)

motion governed by equations of dynamics

no failure criteria

rotations are allowed

distorts geometry
no failure criteria
can not easily separate parts (e.g., for manipulation, remeshing)
contact thickness violated

edge to shell edge interface

Beams

Contacts (more later)

tied (surface to surface, nodes to surface)

tiebreak (surface to surface, nodes to surface)

more complex definition

effects time step calculation

24

Chapter 4

Time Integration, Time Step

Computer Session

Explicit and Implicit Integration

Execution Time Control

For simple problems (mostly academic exercises)

time control is relatively unimportant. For
simulations that take hours or more, time step
control become a significant factor

Explicit and Implicit Integration

Time Step Calculation
Execution Time

Controlling Time Step and Execution

A simple example: Spring-mass system

Equation of motion
ma(t) + kx(t) = F(t)
v(t) = dx(t)/dt
a(t) = dv(t)/dt = d2x(t)/dt

Numerical integration discretizes the differential equation into a

step-by-step solution procedure
at time t n
known: xn, vn, and Fn
find:
xn+1
Step forward:
once values at tn+1 are known, calculate
xn+2 and so on

25

Explicit vs Implicit

Explicit Integration

Time Integration Method

Matrix Inversion
Computation
Convergence Criteria
Time Integration
Time Step Size
Duration
Mass Matrix
Numerical Stability
Material Non-linearity
Strain Rate
Rotation / Time Step

Man = Pn - Fn + Hn
M = diagonal mass matrix
P = external loads + body force
F = internal force (stress divergence vector)
H = hourglass resistance

an = M-1(Pn - Fn + Hn)
vn+1/2 =vn-1/2 + a ntn

tn+1/2= (tn+

tn+1)/2

xn+1 =xn + vn+1/2 t n+1/2

Filtering
Mesh

tc

tc 2

Shell
tc

(1)
2

Solid
tc

Q c2
Q
2

4G
2

Problem Dependent
Linear to Moderate NL
Low (0 to 1E+1)
Vibration
Static
Remove High Frequency
Arbitrary

Spring

E
c

Beam and Truss

Implicit
Yes
I/O Bound
Residual
Newmark Method
Larger (1E-3 s)
Second

Material Wave Speed

Time Step Calculation

Explicit
No
CPU Bound
Energy + Deformation
Central Difference
Small (1E-6 s)
Millisecond
Diagonal
Very Good
Linear to Highly NL
High (1E-1 to 1E+6)
Wave Propagation
Quasi-Static
No
Uniform

2M1

MEDIUM

Meters/Second

Steel
Aluminum
Titanium
Plexiglass
Water
Air

5240
5328
5220
2598
1478
331

M2

k M1M2

26

Characteristic Length

x for solid element

Time Step Calculation

x for shell element

area/length max-edge (default)

area/length diagonal

area/length min-side

Controlling Execution Time

Execution time primarily depends on:

material properties
mesh size
number of elements
contacts
speed of computer

CPU estimation

The above is based on linear analysis, for nonlinear

analysis, we build in a factor of safety
0.9 (default)
0.67 (high velocity)

length

Execution Time

Independent of distance

Time step scale factor

x for beam element

Discrete spring

volume/area max-side

Time step t = minimum x/c

number of cycles = termination time / t
CPU time = (# cycles)(# elements)(time per zone cycle)
correction is needed for time step reduction
correction is needed for number and size of contacts

Avoid bad elements: very small, high stiffness, low density

Increase mesh size to the limits of accuracy required
Monitor d3hsp file for 100 smallest time step elements
Erode elements based on a percentage of initial time step size
Scale density of shell elements to maintain a minimum time step
Stop simulation based on a percentage of the initial time step size
Stop simulation based on a percentage change of energy
Stop simulation based on a percentage change of mass
Alternatively the maximum step threshold may be a function of time
*CONTROL_TIMESTEP and *CONTROL_TERMINATION and
*CONTROL_GLSTAT

27

Time Scaling

Mass Scaling

Quasi-static simulation: metal forming, roof crush

Compressed elements often have less inertia

*CONTROL_TIMESTEP
Cut off for time step size (minimum time step)

Element material properties (moduli not masses) are

modified to limit time step size
Applicable to shells and materials 3, 18, 19, 24

Provide faster solution

Specify time step size for mass scaling

A maximum time step can be specified

Example: discrete elements

Time step is controlled by adjusting density

Scale time step to possibly increase accuracy (<1.0)

*CONTROL_TIMESTEP
= C2E

Optionally adjust density on first cycle only

Chapter 5

Contacts

Algorithms

Types
Guidelines

Computer Session

28

Contacts - Sliding interfaces

Contact - General

Purpose: To Prevent Penetration and/or

separation

deformable to deformable bodies

single surface contact in deformable bodies

deformable body to rigid body contact

tying deformable structures (strain failure)

CONTACT - Features

Input options

segment set
shell set
part
part set
node set
within a defined box
include all

Computes solid exterior

surfaces
Static and dynamic
coefficients of friction
Small penetrations

Damping
Thickness overrides
Birth and death time

Contacts

Methods

Types

Penalty

Node to surface

Kinematic constraint

Surface to surface

Distributed parameter

Single surface

Tied
Sliding
Rigid body

29

Penalty Method

Normal interface springs between penetrating

node and contact surface
Tends to excite very little mesh hourglassing
Stiffness is prescribed as follows:

Contact

Discrete Nodes Impacting a Surface

NODES_TO_SURFACE (5)
AUTOMATIC_NODES_TO_SURFACE (a5)
No segment orientation
ERODING_NODES_TO_SURFACE (16)
Contact is set free if element fail

Contact Stiffness= ( K A2 ) / V

is the penalty scale factor

K is the material bulk modulus

A is the segment area

V is the element volume

Contact

Contact

Surface to Surface Contact

SINGLE_SURFACE (4)
AUTOMATIC_SINGLE_SURFACE (13)
AIRBAG_SINGLE_SURFACE (a13)
ERODING_SINGLE_SURFACE (15)
AUTOMATIC_GENERAL (26)

SURFACE_TO_SURFACE (3)
AUTOMATIC_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE (a3)
ONE_WAY_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE (10)

AUTOMATIC_ONE_WAY_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE
(a10)
ERODING_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE (14)
SINGLE_EDGE (22)

Single Surface Contact:

Type 4 contact requires uniform normal

orientation
Type 13 contact

Normal orientation may be random

Tied interfaces are allowed

30

Single Surface Projection

Rigid Body Contact

May be used with deformable bodies

Arbitrary force-deflection curve

Keywords

RIGID_BODY_TWO_WAY_TO_RIGID_BODY (19)

RIGID_NODES_TO_RIGID_BODY (20)
RIGID_BODY_ONE_WAY_TO_RIGID_BODY (21)

Special Case

Kinematic Constraint Method

Based on impact and release condition of Hughes

et al, 1976
Momentum conservation is insured
Constraints are placed on the nodal displacements
of the slave nodes
Slave surface should be the fine mesh (to prevent
kinks)
Used for tied interfaces

DRAWBEAD (23)

Tied Interfaces

Constraints are imposed on the slave nodes

use coarsely meshed side as master surface

Good for mesh transitions

Good for tying parts together

See also *CONSTRAINED options

31

Surface to Surface Constraint

Algorithm

Tied Surfaces

TIED_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE (2)

interface nodes remain on or very close to the surface

elastic vibrations are insignificant
generally not applicable to rigid bodies
additional nodal constraints cause problems (e.g., spot
welds)
can only subject a surface to this constraint from one
side

tying translational DOF of nodes to surface

does not transmit moments
tying both translational and rotational DOF

TIEBREAK_NODES_TO_SURFACE (8)

normal and shear failure forces

TIRBREAK_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE (9)

CONSTRAINT_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE (17)
CONSTRAINT_NODES_TO_SURFACE (18)

normal and shear failure stress

Distributed Parameter Method

Distribution of mass and pressure over the contact area

Constraints imposed on slave node acceleration and
velocity to insure movement along the master surface
Used for sliding only

Taylor and Flanagan constraint algorithm (1989)

TIED_SHELL_EDGE_TO_SURFACE (7)

TIED_NODES_TO_SURFACE (6)

tying surfaces with translational degree-of-freedom (DOF)

fluid structure
gas to structure

SLIDING_ONLY (1)
SLIDING_ONLY_PENALTY (p1)

Viscous Contact Damping

Damp oscillations normal to the contact surfaces

Damping as a percentage of critical (2m)
twenty percent damping = 20, not 0.20
m = min{mslave, mmaster}

Natural frequency of interface is computed using

the contact stiffness

32

Other Contact

*CONTROL_CONTACT
Change Defaults for Contact Computation

Global scale factor for sliding interface penalties

(Default=0.10)
Scale factor for rigid body with fixed rigid wall interaction
Initial penetration check

Penalty stiffness calculation method

Reorient contact segment normals

*DATABASE_OPTION

ASCII

GLSTAT: global statistics

RCFORC: resultant contact forces
SLEOUT: contact energy

surface to surface and node to surface

Flag: membrane straining produces shell thickness changes

Binary

Treat contact between deformable bodies &

geometric rigid body
Geometric Entities

cylinder, plane, sphere, toroid, ellipsoid, VDA

Improves performance

INTFOR: contact interface data

Contact searching frequency (Default = 10)

*CONTACT_ENTITY

compute sliding interface energy dissipation

Consider shell thickness changes for single surface

*CONTROL_ENERGY

Consider shell thickness for

closed from contact calculation

Improves accuracy

surface is independent of finite element mesh

refinement

Applications for Contact Entities

Metal Forming: The punch and die surface

geometries can be input as geometric surfaces
which are treated as rigid
Treating contact between rigid body occupant
dummy hyper ellipsoids and deformable structures
such as airbag and instrument panels
Coupling with the rigid body occupant modeling
codes, such as MADYMO and CAL3D
Airbag into steering wheel

33

Contact Guideline I

Contact type 13 is recommended

Perhaps the most efficient and reliable contact

1 large contact zone is not more expensive than several
small ones
Automatic contact input simplifies problem translation

Contact type 5 is simple and 100% reliable if the

master surface is closed surface, the same goes for
type 3 if bothmaster and slave surface are closed

advantage: contact forces can be monitored

advantage: individual contacts can be controlled

Contact Guidelines II

Uniform meshes improve results

Make master side with coarser mesh for one way
treatment
Contacts work best when master and slave sides
have similar mesh sizes and material properties
The soft constraint option may be appropriate
for the case of objects with highly different
properties
Avoid sharp corners

Contact Guidelines III

Avoid initial penetration at all cost!

They may cause stresses that exceed the yield stress and
will initiate buckling immediately

Default values are good reference values

Contact normals must point to the opposing surface
except when noted otherwise
Undeformable or very stiff parts, whose kinematics
are determined by contact forces,must be modeled
very fine since distribution over many nodes is
important to obtain realistic results

34

Chapter 6

Element Formulation

Solid
Shell
Beam
Discrete

Structural Geometry
Loading Conditions
Model Assumptions
Economics

Hourglass Control
Computer Session

*ELEMENT

Element Selection Criteria

Define elements using nodes

To organize and specify how elements behave,
elements are assigned to a part

Types

Concentrated masses
Springs
Dampers
Seat belts
Beams
Shells
Solids
Thick Shells

Elements and Parts

Element 1
*ELEMENT_SHELL
Node 46
*NODE

Node 47
*NODE

Node 48
*NODE

Node 49
*NODE
Part 1
*PART

Material 4
*MAT_

Section 12
*SECTION_

Hourglass 2
*HOURGLASS

35

*PART

Relates part ID between elements, sections and materials

Organize elements into meaningful groups
*SECTION

Specify mathematical (element) formulation

Specify integration rule
Specify geometric properties not defined explicitly by the element

*MATERIAL

Elements that require part IDs

Elements that do not require part IDs

*SECTION

Element type dependent

element formulation
integration rule
thickness or cross-section properties

Used in *PART

Specify material behavior (and properties)

beam discrete, seatbelt, shell, solid, tshell
mass, seatbelt, accessories

*ELEMENT_MASS

Assign a lumped mass to a node

Required input

mass element ID (EID)

node ID

mass value

*ELEMENT_DISCRETE

Define springs and dampers

mounts, locks, hinges, simplified components away from

design area, lumped parameter modeling

Massless
Rotations are in radians
Required input

element ID
part ID
2 nodal IDs (one can be ground)
orientation (N1 to N2 x-direction only, etc.)
scale factor on force

36

Discrete Elements

Force behavior is defined using material options

*MAT_SPRING

Elastic stiffness, f (displacement)

elastic and nonlinear elastic
inelastic
general nonlinear
Maxwell (exponential decay of stiffness)

*SECTION_DISCRETE

Translation or rotation
Dynamic magnification factor
Clearance

Tension/compression deflection limits

*MAT_DAMPER

Damping constant, F(velocity)

viscous
nonlinear viscous

*SECTION_BEAM

*ELEMENT_BEAM

Model long slender objects (10:1 ratios)

Element Formulation

steering columns, suspension components, building

frames, rebar

Hughes-Liu (default)
Belytschko-Schwer resultant
Belytschko-Schwer with full integration
Belytschko-Schwer tubular beam

Required input

element ID
part ID

3 nodal point IDs

6 degree-of-freedom

3 degree-of-freedom

truss
cable

Cross Section

rectangular, tubular, I, C, T, Z, arbitrary

areas or inertias (2nd moment and polar)

37

*ELEMENT_SOLID

Model components that are discretized relatively

similar in size in three orthogonal directions

Solid Element Formulation

Constant stress solid (default)

8-node brick
hourglass control with 1 1 1 integration
also valid for wedge and tetrahedron

castings,forgings,radiators,belts

Proper mass and inertia representation

Required input:

element ID
part ID
nodal IDs (4, 6, 8 - tetrahedron, wedge, brick)

Fully integrated S/R solid

8-node brick
2 2 2 integration (no hourglassing)
no locking due to selectively reduced integration

Tetrahedrons can control Hourglassing but timestep

becomes more difficult to control

Solid Element Formulation

(continued)

Fully integrated quadric with nodal rotations

8 node brick
14 integration points
rotational degrees of freedom

*ELEMENT_SHELL

sheet metal, thin-walled structures, engines blades, cams

crashworthiness, occupant simulation, sheet metal stamping,
impacts on aircraft, impulsive loading or missiles

S/R quadratic tetrahedron with nodal rotations

4-node brick
5 integration points
rotational degrees of freedom

Model components that are relatively thin in one direction

Required input:

element ID
part ID

nodes for a quad,3 nodes for a tri

override default thickness at each node

38

Shell Element Parameters

Element Formulation
1. Hughes-Liu
2. Belytschko-Tsay (default)
3. BCIZ triangular shell
4. C0 triangular shell (recommended)
5. Belytschko-Tsay membrane
6. S/R Hughes-Liu
7. S/R co-rotational Hughes-Liu
8. Belytschko-Leviathan shell
9. Fully integrated Belytschko-Tsay membrane
10. Belytschko-Wong-Chiang
11. Fast co-rotational Hughes-Liu
16. Fast Fully integrated
Can be set globally or for each part
*CONTROL_SHELL, *SECTION_SHELL

*SECTION_SHELL

number of through shell thickness integration points (default = 2)

thickness at each node
reference surfaces - top, mid, bottom surface (Hughes-Liu only)

*CONTROL_SHELL

treat degenerated quads as C0 tris

membrane straining causes thickness change
B-W-C warping stiffness for B-T
element warpage warning

Shell Features

Finite strain are treated

Arbitrary and fixed through thickness integration
Shell element thickness update
Geometric properties are optionally specified on the
element card for complete generality
Fully vectorized and parallelized for SGI, Cray, HP
Constitutive subroutines are shared by all shell elements
Common local coordinates systems are used
Hourglass control available to control zero energy modes

Shell Technology
Why only three and four-noded shell?

High frequency content in higher order shells drives the

time step size down
Contact algorithm are not set up to run with higher
order surfaces

Mesh generation and post-processing would have to be

further developed
Less robust than simpler elements under large distortion

39

Shell Technology

Belytschko-Tsay Shell

Why multiple shell formulation?

Fully integrated for elasticity, metal forming

applications, airbags, or whenever accuracy is concern
Triangular elements for mesh grading since collapsed
quad are too stiff. Autosorting of tris in LS-DYNA
Belytschko-Tsay for speed!

Membran elements without bending or transverse shear

for very thin sheets

The B-T shell element was developed by Belytschko

and Tsay in 1981, and improved by Belytschko, Lin
and Tsay in 1984
Based on a combined co-rotational and velocity-strain
formulation
Co-rotational portion of the formulation avoids the
complexities of nonlinear mechanics by an embedded
coordinate system in the element
The conjugate stress to velocity strain is the Cauchy
stress
Shell kinematics assumes that nodes are co-planar

Co-Rotational Coordinates
Construction of element coordinate system

Belytschko-Tsay Shell

This shell was implemented as a computationally

efficient alternative to the Hughes-Liu shell

With 5 integration points, the B-T shell requires 725

mathematical operations, whereas the under-integrated
H-L shell requires 4066
Selective reduced (S/R) integration of H-L shell
requires 35,367 mathematical operations

Because of its computational efficiency, the B-T shell

element is usually the element formulation of choice.
For this reason, it has become the default 4-node shell
element formulation

40

Belytschko-Tsay Shell
Lacks of Accuracy

B-T shell is fast but simplifications required for speed affects

accuracy
Two problems that illustrate its shortcomings

hemispherical shell problem with corner forces

twisted beam problem with end load

Belytschko-Wong-Chiang Shell

Tris are stiffer

Tris are more costly

more accurate for warped element configurations

Disadvantages
more costly than B-T
does not degenerate into a triangular shell

Alternative: B-W-C warping stiffness for B-T

(*CONTROL_SHELL)

Shell Technology Cost Comparisons

Operation counts do not translate directly into

increased cost

Gather-scatter costs are identical for each formulation (30%)

Constitutive models are identical for each formulation (30%)
Considerable overhead in contact, rigid bodies, constraints,
and other elements, results in speed differences on real
problems being typical 15%
Main issue is whether the improved results in some
applications justify the added extra cost

reduction in time step

increased number of elements

Tris do not hourglass (advantage)

Tris are used for mesh transition regions
Tris are good for eliminating warped quads
Tris are good for curved geometry
Avoid using stiff degenerated quads (use C0 tris)

improved treatment of transverse shear

Triangular Shells

The B-T shell ignores warpage in geometry

Determining when and if the simplification are important is
nearly impossible unless another shell is available for making
comparisons
The B-T shell will eventually be phased out as new shells
gain acceptance

Advantages

Operation

Count - example
Relative Cost - example

41

Hourglassing
Zero Energy Modes

Hourglassing

Examples

shells
solids

Hourglass modes are a results of rank of deficiency in the

element stiffness matrix caused by insufficient integration
points

Zero Energy Modes

These modes result in mathematical sates that are not

physically possible
Hourglassing can be controlled under certain
circumstances
One point integration is much faster

so we accept the risk

Hourglassing Control
Types and Their Limitations

Hourglassing Control

standard LS-DYNA (default)

Flanagan-Belytschko (2)

Flanagan-Belytschko with exact volume integration (3)

Stiffness forms

Flanagan-Belytschko (4)
Flanagan-Belytschko with exact volume integration (5)

The stiffness form may result in stiff response

Flanagan-Belytschko behaves better for large rotations

Stiffness form

Viscous forms

but always check energy balances to be safe

general rule: Hourglass Energy < 10% of Internal Energy

more stable in many applications

preferred for vehicle crash and sheet stamping

Viscous form sometimes works better

If hourglassing occurs in an area where it does not influence the
design area of concern, then it is admissible
Fully integrated elements have no hourglassing
Hourglass modes are orthogonal to the real deformation
Work done by hourglass control does not appear in energy equation
Total energy will reduces slightly
Hourglass energy dissipation appears in GLSTAT and MATSUM

42

Hourglassing - Keywords

*CONTROL_ENERGY

*CONTROL_HOURGLASS

set hourglass type (default is viscous)

can modify hourglass coefficient

The Flanagan-Belytschko (shape vector) formulation is

preferred since the increased cost is small and the default
base vector formulation interferes with the rigid body
modes of an element
Choice between viscous and stiffness force calculation is
not a real issue

*HOURGLASS

switch to have hourglass energy calculation (10% penalty)

Hourglass Prevention

*PART

set hourglass type and parameters to use for specific parts

change global hourglass type and parameters for a specific
part by identifying a specific hourglass ID

stiffness formulation may reinforce the structure and low

coefficient should be used (0.01 to 0.02)

Hourglass modes are better avoided by mesh-refinement

If mesh refinement does not work, switch formulation
rather than tweak hourglass parameters

Chapter 7

Material Models

Metals

Rubber

Foam

Rigid Bodies
Computer Session

43

Materials
Material Behavior and Properties

Basic Material Behavior

Material behavior and properties are possibly the

most difficult portion in developing useful
simulation results
Nonlinear material behavior is constantly being
updated through new research
Nonlinear material properties are not easily
obtained
Components often need to be modeled with

simplified geometry

Behavior

Hardening

Ideal

Softening

Stability

yes

yes

no

Uniqueness

yes

yes

yes

Application

metals,
concrete

crude steel,
plastics

dense sand,
concrete large def.

Softening

As soon as 1 element reaches yield, all other

elements will unload elastically as the yielding
element proceeds forward (and downward) on the
stress-strain curve
Simple example - LPM with two springs

Elastoplastic Complexities

Failure

minimum time step

plastic strain

failure stain

Unloading/Re-loading
Strain Rate Effects

44

Strain Rate Effects

Strain Rate Effect (dynamic effect) - SRE

Strain Rate Effects

quick loading of materials can cause changes in

material properties. Most notable in steels
strain rate = rate at which material deforms
laboratory testing is done quasi-statically, actual
applications are dynamic
SRE is most dominate at low strains (up to 5%) and for
mild steels

Cowper-Symonds

Johnson-Cook

Anisotropic
Multi-Layers

scale the yield stress by a strain rate dependent factor

curve: scale factor versus strain rate

Strain rate dependent plasticity

scale the flow stress by an effective plastic strain rate factor

General

Other Materials - Increased

Complexity

scale the yield stress by stain rate dependent factor

curve: yield stress versus effective strain rate

Material Types

Composites
Ceramics
Fabric
Foam
Glass
Metal
Plastic
Rubber
Soil/Concrete

45

Common Materials

Metals

Metals
1. *MAT_ELASTIC

Rubber
Foam

3 *MAT_PLASTIC_KINEMATIC
24 *MAT_PIECEWISE_LINEAR_PLASTICITY

1. *MAT_ELASTIC

3. *MAT_PLASTIC_KINEMATIC

Define liner material

Defines a bilinear constitutive law

Beams, Shells, Solids, Thick Shells

Beams, Shells, Solids, Thick Shells

Input

Input

density
Youngs modulus
Poissons ratio

Axial an bending damping for Bel-Schwer beam

density
Youngs modulus
Poissons ratio

yield stress
tangent modulus
hardening

Cowper-Symonds strain rate effect

Element deletion based on failure strain

46

3. *MAT_PLASTIC_KINEMATIC

24 *MAT_PIECEWISE_LINEAR_PLASTICITY

Defines a bilinear constitutive law or an arbitrary stress

versus strain curve
Beams, Shells, Solids, Thick Shells
Input

Hardening

density
Youngs modulus
Poissons ratio

Rubber

Hyperelastic material
Response is path independent
Generally considered to be incompressible since the bulk
modulus greatly exceeds the shear modulus in magnitude
7 *MAT_BLATZ-KO_RUBBER
27 *MAT_MOONEY-RIVLIN_RUBBER
31 *MAT_FRAZER-NASH_RUBBER
38 *MAT_BLATZ-KO_FOAM
77 *MAT_HYPERELASTIC_RUBBER
77 *MAT_OGDEN_RUBBER
87 *MAT_CELLULAR_RUBBER

yield stress
tangent modulus
stress-strain curve

Cowper-Symonds SRE or arbitrary strain rate dependency

Element deletion based on plastic strain or minimum time
step

7. *MAT_BLATZ-KO_RUBBER

Solids and Shells

Nearly incompressible continuum rubber
Poissons ratio is at 0.463
Input

density
shear modulus

Suitable for polyurethane rubber

Second Piola-Kirchoff stress which is transformed
to Cauchy stress

47

27. *MAT_MOONEY-RIVLIN_RUBBER

Solid and Shells

Reduction of the Frazer-Nash rubber model
Poissons ratio (> 0.49 recommended)
Two constants: A and B
Strain energy density function

W = A(I-3) + B(II-3) + C(III2-1) + D(III-1)2

31. *MAT_FRAZER-NASH_RUBBER

Solid only
Modified from the hyperelastic constitutive law
described by Kedington (1988)
Poissons ratio: 0.49 < <0.50
Strain energy functional
U = C100I1 + C200I12 + C300I13 + C400I14 +C110I1I2 + C210 I12I2 +
C010I2 + C020I22 + f(J)
I, J stress invariants

I, II, III invariants of right Cauchy-Green tensor

C = 0.5A + B
D = [A(5 - 2)+B(11 - 5)]/2(1 - 2)
2(A + B) = shear modulus of linear elasticity

If A = B = 0.0, then they are calculated using a least square fir from
uniaxial data via a load curve (A and B will be printed in d3hsp file)

77 *MAT_HYPERELASTIC_RUBBER
77. *MAT_OGDEN_RUBBER

38. *MAT_BLATZ-KO_FOAM

Solids and Shells

Compressible foam

Poissons ratio is fixed at 0.25

Suitable for rubber like foams of polyurethane
Input

density
shear modulus

Input either constants or force versus change in gauge

length

Solids only
General hyperelastic rubber combined with linear
viscoelasticity (Ogden 1984, Christensen 1980)
Similar behavior but provide different parameter options
Poissons ratio > 0.49 recommended
Effectively a Maxwell fluid which consists of dampers and
springs in series
Results are nearly identical to Mooney-Rivlin (Mat 27) for
large values of Poissons ratio

48

Crushable Foams

Energy dissipative
Response of these materials are path dependent
Soils and crushable foams represent materials that stiffen
as they compress or compact

Soil, for example, has a specific stiffness while the empty space
exists between the grains. As the grains bridge in compression, the
stiffness of the material increases. Soils tend to unload linearly.
Soils do not hold tensile loads

Porous forms have similar behavior where the stiffness is

lower until the internal voids are compressed. Foams tend
to unload along the loading path

Crushable Foams
5
14
26
53

*MAT_SOIL_AND_FOAM
*MAT_SOIL_AND_FOAM_FAILURE
*MAT_HONEYCOMB
*MAT_CLOSED_CELL_FOAM

57 *MAT_LOW_DENSITY_FOAM
62 *MAT_VISCOUS_FOAM
63 *MAT_CRUSHABLE_FOAM
75 *MAT_BILKHU/DUBOIS_FOAM

Crushable Foams

Foam components are usually very soft compared

to surrounding structure
Consequently, contact forces are likely to cause
hourglass in foam components, especially if they
are modeled coarsely
Therefore, fully integrated brick elements are best
used, eliminating hourglass problems from the
start

Crushable Foams

It is important to check both uni-axial and tri-axial behavior of

the model before using it to represent a certain foam
Some of the more commonly used foams :
26 *MAT_HONEYCOMB

radiators, moving deformable barriers

57 *MAT_LOW_DENSITY_FOAM

seat cushions, padding on side impact dummies

62 *MAT_VISCOUS_FOAM

energy absorbing foam found on certain crash dummies

75 *MAT_BILKHU/DUBOIS_FOAM

good general isotropic crushable foam

considers uni-axial and tri-axial test data
unloading is elastic (Poissons ratio set to zero)

49

Rigid Bodies

RB has six-degree-of-freedom
RB boundary conditions act on CG

Defining control to the nodes of a RB is risky and

not recommended

nodal constraints
prescribed motion

D3HSP contains mass calculation for RB

RBOUT contains ASCII information

Rigid Bodies
Extensive capabilities to model rigid bodies (RB):

*MAT_RIGID (material 20) can be used to define a RB

from defined shell, solid or beam elements
Two RB can be merged into a single RB
Extra nodes for RB
A RB can be defined by a set of nodes
Joints connect RB
Material can be switched between rigid and deformable
Multiple contact treatments available

Inertial properties and initial conditions can be defined

Rigid Bodies

*MAT_RIGID (material 20) can be used to define a

RB from defined shell, solid or beam elements

material properties are used by contact algorithms

center of mass can be constrained (displacement and
rotation)
inertial properties (CG, mass Is, initial velocities) can be
redefined through the *PARTS command

Two RB can be merged into a single RB

*CONSTRAINED_RIGID_BODIES

Rigid Bodies

Extra nodes for RB

*CONSTRAINED_EXTRA_NODES

Nodal Rigid Body

CONSTRAINED_NODAL_RIGID_BODY
a RB can be defined by a set of nodes

inertial properties

computed automatically from nodal masses and coordinates

user specified: CG, mass, Is, initial velocities

50

Joints Connecting RB

6 type of joint definitions

spherical, revolute, universal

planar, translational

cylindrical

Nodal pairs (1,2), (3,4) and (5,6) should coincide with

the exception of cylindrical and translational joints
Joints only apply to RB

Keywords

Deformable Switching

Materials can be switched between rigid and

deformable
*DEFORMABLE_TO_RIGID

switch deformable materials to rigid at the start

In a Restart file:

*RIGID_DEFORMABLE_R2D
*RIGID_DEFORMABLE_D2R

*CONSTRAINED_JOINT_option
*CONSTRAINED_JOINT_STIFFNESS

Rigid Bodies - Contact

Sliding Interfaces

may be used with deformable bodies

arbitrary force-deflection curves
19 *CONTACT_RIGID_BODY_TWO_WAY_TO_RIGID_BODY
20 *CONTACT_RIGID_NODES_TO_RIGID_BODY

21*CONTACT_RIGID_BODY_ONE_WAY_TO_RIGID_BODY

Rigidwall

specify penalty for treating rigid wall to rigid body contact in

*CONTACT_CONTACT

Geometric Entities - *CONTACT_ENTITIES

Improve performance and accuracy

51

Week 8

Analysis Tools

Analysis Tools
Output Options
Quasi-Static Analysis
Dynamic Relaxation
Damping

Restart
Cross-Section Analysis

There are many things that could go wrong within a model

LS-DYNA3D tends to provide results even in cases where
the results are nonphysical

Some errors are simple: incorrect format

Some errors are subtle: duplicate nodes in a small region
Some errors are indirect: slight modification in one option effects
another
Some errors are complex: shooting nodes in contact region
Some errors are frustrating: Floating Point Exception- core dump

It helps to have guidelines and strategies for uncovering

such errors

Analysis Tools

The Input File

Critical Files: Input file and D3HSP file

Common Errors

Everything wrong must be in the input file!

A brief scan through portions of this file can reveal much
Things to look for include:

Consistent Units
Ctrl+C Sense Switches
Interactive Graphics
The Post Processor

Colleagues or LSTC Hotline (925)-449-2500

********s being written where numbers should be

existence of material properties

incorrect material numbers for various element types

lack of boundary conditions on the node cards
all of the other major input sections

When experiencing a read error on DYNA3D startup, the

first thing to do is to make sure that the section where the
error occurred as well as the one before are defined
correctly and the appropriate control flags are set

52

D3HSP File

The d3hsp file echoes the input file and is also interesting reading
When something goes wrong, scan through the d3hsp file making
sure that all of the various options are exactly as you expected
d3hsp file also contains other useful information:

Common Errors

material and system mass properties

latest options that are not yet in the manual
100 smallest time step controlling elements
when an element fails

most error termination statements

CPU usage

When nothing goes wrong, scan through the d3hsp file anyway

Most error terminations provide info on the cause of the problem

input formatted incorrectly

odd inertial properties
initial contact penetration
load curve definitions
massless nodes

Floating Point Exception can be caused by several things

parts with zero density

parts with zero thickness
over-constrained nodes
constrained nodes, contacts and rigid walls all occurring on the same
node at one time
ill-defined load curves

Common Errors

Consistent Units

Sometimes runs terminate normally but still have

problems

Units
Material properties
Loads, boundary conditions, and initial conditions
Contact segment normals
Problem time and cycle number may explain a lack of
interesting output
element aspect ratios, angles, and warpage
Duplicate nodes and elements
Cracks or holes
Material numbers

Mass
kg
kg
ton (1000kg)
slug
lbf-s2/in

Length
m
mm
mm
ft
in

Time
s
ms
s
s
s

Force
N
k
N
lbf
lbf

53

The Sense Switches

Ctrl+C interrupts execution and prompts for a sense

switch
sw1 A restart file is written and LS-DYNA3D terminates
sw2 LS-DYNA3D responds with time and cycle info
sw3 A restart file is written and LS-DYNA3D continues
sw4 A plot state is written and LS-DYNA3D continues
sw5 Interactive graphics

sw6 Stop Sequencing Interactive Graphics

The Sense Switch

The items which are printed include:

Kinetic Energy
External Work
Internal Energy
Total Energy

X, Y, and Z Momentum
Controlling Element Number and Type
Current Time Step and Controlling Element

The Sense Switch

If the time step is too small, then the mesh may contain a
disproportionally small elements. And with a minor modification to
the input, it can be eliminated, allowing an order-of-magnitude
increase in time step
A rapidly decreasing time step can be the result of a badly applied
load or boundary condition. It can also be the result of mesh pattern
that is unfavorable for the deformation or bad material data. Most of
the remaining causes are signaled by the energy conservation printout
For most of impact problems, simulations are started with an initial
kinetic energy. Normally, no external work is applied. The kinetic
energy will decrease, the internal energy will increase, and the total
energy should remain constant. If the total energy takes some big
jumps, the model has an error. It is time to recheck everything, but
especially contact and fracture. Use SW4, to output a graphic state
before the problem crashes.

The Sense Switch 2

Another piece of good debug information is the

momentum printout. For impact problems, this tells you
immediately if the projectile is going in the right direction,
Dividing by mass of the moving body tells you if the
object has the correct velocity. The changes in the
momentum vector should be compatible with what is
expected of the system

54

Analysis Tools - Conclusions

You can never be too thorough

When all of the above fails, there is the possibility
of an LS-DYNA3D code error
Mathematics can play marvelous tricks on physics

ASCII Output Files

Obtain specialized output in ASCII format for x-y

plot
Platting can be done in using

LS-TAURUS (phase 3)
LS-POST (ASCII)

Desired output must be specified

*DATABASE_option

Some options require additional data

ASCII Output Files

Airbag Statistics *DATABASE_ABSTAT

ASCII Output Files

pressure
internal energy
mass flow

density
temperature
output mass flow rate
mass

Boundary Nodal Forces *DATABASE_BNDOUT

Discrete Element Data *DATABASE_DEFORC

volume

Option = desired output type

requires time interval between output

forces and moments for discrete elements:

springs and dampers

global x,y,z
resultant

Element Data *DATABASE_ELOUT

requires *DATABASE_HISTORY_option

beam or a set of beams

shell or a set of shells
solid or a set of solids

boundary condition nodal forces and energies when discrete

forces are applied at a boundary

55

ASCII Output Files

ASCII Output Files

Element Data (continued)

beams

axial resultant force

resultant s-shear and tshear
resultant s-moment and tmoment
toroidal resultant

solids (bricks)

global stress
global shear
effective shear
effective stress
yield function

Global Statistic

shells

strain
global strain

global shear strains

lower and upper surface strain
stress
global stress
global shear stress
plastic strain
integration points

initial energy/total energy

kinetic energy
internal energy
hourglass energy
stonewall energy
spring and damping energy
system damping energy
sliding interface energy
external work
global x, y, z velocity
time step
*CONTROL_ENERGY required to get hourglass, stonewall, sliding

ASCII Output Files

ASCII Output Files

Geometric Contact Entities *DATABASE_GCEOUT

Joint Forces
*DATABASE_JNTFORC

Material Energies

global forces
component analysis

Nodal Forces

*DATABASE_MATSUM

material information for each part

kinetic energy
internal energy
hourglass energy
global momentum
global velocity

*DATABASE_NCFORC

Nodal Contact Forces

global forces and moments

resultant forces and moments

*DATABASE_GLSTAT

global energy information

total energy

*DATABASE_NODFOR

global forces
requires *DATABASE_NODAL_FORCE_GROUP

Nodal Point Data

*DATABASE_NODOUT

displacements and rotations

velocities and angular velocities
acceleration and and angular accelerations

requires *DATABASE_HISTORY_(nodes or a set of nodes)

56

ASCII Output Files

Rigid Body Data

*DATABASE_RBDOUT

ASCII Output Files

acceleration and angular acceleration

normal forces
global forces

Seat Belt Output

*DATABASE_RWFORC

global forces of defined contacts

Rigid Wall Forces

specify element to element nodes on the cross section

applies to beams, shells, solids springs and dampers

Sliding Interface Energy *DATABASE SLEOUT

*DATABASE_SBTOUT

ASCII Output Files

SPC Reaction Forces *DATABASE_SPCFORC

global forces and momnets

Spotweld/Rivet Forces *DATABASE_SWFORC

axial force
shear force

*DATABASE_SECFORC

global forces and moments

resultant forces and moments
dimensional center
requires *DATABASE_CROSS_SECTION

Resultant Interface Forces *DATABASE_RCFORC

Cross Section Forces

displacement and rotation

velocity and angular velocity

ASCII Output Files

Specialized output for various post-processing

software
AVS Database
*DATABASE_AVSFLT
Deformed Geometry *DATABASE_DEFGEO

this option also creates a Nastran Bulk Data File (NASBDF)

applies to all rigid nodal constraints

can be read into many pre-processors

MOVIE

*DATABASE_MOVIE

MPGS

*DATABASE_MPGS

* AVS, MOVIE and MPGS require *DATABASE_EXTENT

specifications

57

Quasi-Static Analysis

Inertial forces are insignificant

Material properties are independent of time
Implicit solvers do not converge for large systems
of equations
Convergence is not an issue with explicit solvers

Quasi-Static Analysis

Possible time duration is inherently small with explicit

solvers
0.001 seconds to 0.100 seconds

Dynamic Relaxation

prescribed geometry
Initial loading

Damping
Time Scaling

Mass Scaling

Several methods for quasi-static solutions

Dynamic Relaxation
Prescribed Geometry

Nodal x, y, z displacements and rotations

Initialization

Linear analysis
Specify stress initialization file on the excution line

m = sif

File format is I8,6E15

*CONTACT_DYNAMIC_RELAXATION/*CONTROL_DAMPING

Dynamic Relaxation Loading

Specify initial loading (*DEFINE_CURVE)

Apply load curve to initialization

Apply load curve to initialization and analysis

*CONTACT_DYNAMIC_RELAXATION/*CONTROL_DAMPING

dynamic relaxation flag = 1

dynamic relaxation flag = 2

58

Dynamic Relaxation
Comments

Dynamic Relaxation
Options

Iterations between convergence check

(default=250)
Dynamic relaxiation factor (default = 0.995)
Optional termination time (default = infinity)
Scale factor for computed time step
Convergence tolerance

The computed velocity is multiplied by the

dynamic relaxation factor
No solution exists when kinetic energy is
prescribed

discounts motion control

allow pressure, force, and thermal loads

Kinetic energy limit

Papadrakakis automatic control option is based on
critical damping

Damping

Damping

System damping or mass damping

an = M-1(Pn - Fn + Hn -Fndamp)
equivalent to putting structure in a viscous environment

Raleigh damping or stiffness damping

*DAMPING_PART_MASS
mass weighted damping to specified parts
damps all motions including rigid body motions
preferred for low frequencies

pulls energy out from within an element

analogy: a structure heating up

Critical damping = 2 * min

define mass weighted nodal damping that applies

globally to the nodes of deformable bodies

*CONTROL_DAMPING
*CONTROL_GLOBAL

*DAMPING_PART_STIFFNESS

Rayleigh stiffness damping

orthogonal to rigid body motion

preferred for high frequencies

59

Restart

Restart a simulation
Allowable changes:

termination time
output intervals

add nodal boundary conditions

delete contacts, parts, elements
switch from rigid bodies to deformable
switch from deformable bodies to rigid

Restart

The ability to stop and restart a simulation is

extremely useful
reset output intervals
delete contact surfaces
delete elements and parts
change boundary conditions
switch between deformable bodies and rigid bodies
control time step and termination
change damping options

Restart

The restart LS-DYNA file is similar to the original

input file
ls-dyna3d r=d3dump I=restart.k

Cross Section Analysis

transmission forces (interface force or section forces)

moments
centroid location
area
All above quantities are functions of time

ls-dyna3d (ls940) execution command for LS-DYNA

d3dump
complete state dump of the simulation at t
he time you want to restart
restart.k
keyword format restart deck

For keyword format, some versions of LS-DYNA

require all output to be re-specified (*DATABASE
commands)

Define cross sections through various parts of a structure

Overall view of how a structure is performing

Individual components can be analyzed to see how and
when they transmit loads, crush and absorb energy
throughout an event

Verify model accuracy

60

Force Calculation

Defining Cross Sections

Define cross sections by specifying:

the nodes of the cross section

the element to be used to calculate the forces at those nodes
The sign of the forces transmitted are determined by which
side of the nodes the elements lie on

Automatically

F + f = Mass * Acceleration
F = nodal force due to stress in the cross section elements
f= interface forces

User specified

*DATABASE_CROSS_SECTION_PLANE
*DATABASE_CROSS_SECTION_SET

Specify desired output frequency

*DATABASE_SECFORC

In general, the load is comprised of two components: element

stiffness and mass inertia. The equilibrium equation of a node
on a cross section can be written as Newtons 2nd Law:

This equation is a vector, resulting in global x, y, and z forces

Mass is allocated to ensure equal and opposite forces when
choosing elements on one side of the nodes versus the other side
Accelerations for each node and stresses for each element are
calculated throughout a simulation, thus computing cross section
information is relatively inexpensive

61