SolidModelCreation

Introduction
ThistutorialisthelastofthreebasictutorialsdevisedtoillustratecommomfeaturesinANSYS.Each
tutorialbuildsupontechniquescoveredinprevioustutorials,itisthereforeessentialthatyoucomplete
thetutorialsinorder.
TheSolidModellingTutorialwillintroducevarioustechniqueswhichcanbeusedinANSYStocreate
solidmodels.Filleting,extrusion/sweeping,copying,andworkingplaneorientationwillbecoveredin
detail.
TwoSolidModelswillbecreatedwithinthistutorial.

ProblemDescriptionA
Wewillbecreatingasolidmodelofthepulleyshowninthefollowingfigure.

GeometryGeneration
Wewillcreatethismodelbyfirsttracingoutthecrosssectionofthepulleyandthensweepingthisarea
abouttheyaxis.

CreationofCrossSectionalArea
1. Create3Rectangles
MainMenu>Preprocessor>(Modeling)Create>Rectangle>By2Corners
BLC4,XCORNER,YCORNER,WIDTH,HEIGHT

Thegeometryoftherectangles:
Rectangle1

Rectangle2

Rectangle3

WPX(XCORNER)

WPY(YCORNER)

WIDTH

0.5

HEIGHT

5.5

Youshouldobtainthefollowing:

2. AddtheAreas
MainMenu>Preprocessor>(Modeling)Operate>(Boolean)Add>Areas
AADD,ALL

ANSYSwilllabeltheunitedareaasAREA4andthepreviousthreeareaswillbedeleted.
3. Createtheroundededgesusingcircles

Preprocessor>(Modeling)Create>(Areas)Circle>Solidcircles
CYL4,XCENTER,YCENTER,RAD

Thegeometryofthecircles:
Circle1

Circle2

WPX(XCENTER)

8.5

WPY(YCENTER)

5.5

0.2

RADIUS

0.5

0.2

4. Subtractthelargecirclefromthebase
Preprocessor>Operate>Subtract>Areas
ASBA,BASE,SUBTRACT

5. Copythesmallercirclefortheroundededgesatthetop
Preprocessor>(Modeling)Copy>Areas
ClickonthesmallcircleandthenonOK.
Thefollowingwindowwillappear.Itasksforthex,yandzoffsetofthecopiedarea.Enter
theyoffsetas4.6andthenclickOK.

Copythisnewareanowwithanxoffsetof0.5
Youshouldobtainthefollowing

6. Addthesmallercirclestothelargearea.
Preprocessor>Operate>Add>Areas
AADD,ALL

7. Fillettheinsideedgesofthetophalfofthearea
Preprocessor>Create>(Lines)LineFillet
SelectthetwolinesshownbelowandclickonOK.

Thefollowingwindowwillappearpromptingforthefilletradius.Enter0.1

Followthesameprocedureandcreateafilletwiththesameradiusbetweenthefollowing
lines

8. Createthefilletareas
Asshownbelow,zoomintothefilletradiusandplotandnumberthelines.

Preprocessor>(Modeling)Create>(Areas)Arbitrary>ByLines
Selectthelinesasshownbelow

Repeatfortheotherfillet
9. Addalltheareastogether
Preprocessor>Operate>Add>Areas
AADD,ALL

10. Plottheareas(UtilityMenu>PlotAreas)

SweeptheCrossSectionalArea
Nowweneedtosweeptheareaaroundayaxisatx=0andz=0tocreatethepulley.
1. Createtwokeypointsdefiningtheyaxis
Createkeypointsat(0,0,0)and(0,5,0)andnumberthem1001and1002respectively.
(K,#,X,Y,Z)
2. Bydefaultthegraphicswillnowshowallkeypoints.PlotAreas

3. Sweeptheareaabouttheyaxis
Preprocessor>(Modeling)Operate>Extrude>(Areas)Aboutaxis
Youwillfirstbepromptedtoselecttheareastobesweptsoclickonthearea.
Thenyouwillbeaskedtoenterorpicktwokeypointsdefiningtheaxis.
PlottheKeypoints(UtilityMenu>Plot>Keypoints.Thenselectthefollowingtwo
keypoints

Thefollowingwindowwillappearpromptingforsweepingangles.ClickonOK.

Youshouldnowseethefollowinginthegraphicsscreen.

CreateBoltHoles
1. ChangetheWorkingPlane
Bydefault,theworkingplaneinANSYSislocatedontheglobalCartesianXYplane.However,
forustodefinetheboltholes,weneedtouseadifferentworkingplane.Thereareseveralwaysto
defineaworkingplane,oneofwhichistodefineitbythreekeypoints.
CreatethefollowingKeypoints

#2001
#2002
#2003

X
0
1
0

Y
3
3
3

Z
0
0
1

Switchtheviewtotopviewandplotonlykeypoints.
2. AligntheWorkingPlanewiththeKeypoints
UtilityMenu>WorkPlane>AlignWPwith>Keypoints+
SelectKeypoints2001then2002then2003INTHATORDER.Thefirstkeypoint(2001)
definestheoriginoftheworkingplanecoordinatesystem,thesecondkeypoint(2002)
definesthexaxisorientation,whilethethird(2003)definestheorientationoftheworking
plane.Thefollowingwarningwillappearwhenselectingthekeypointattheoriginasthere
aremorethanoneinthislocation.

Justclickon'Next'untiltheoneselectedis2001.
Onceyouhaveselectedthe3keypointsandclicked'OK'theWPsymbol(green)should
appearintheGraphicswindow.AnotherwaytomakesuretheactiveWPhasmovesis:
UtilityMenu>WorkPlane>ShowWPStatus

notetheoriginoftheworkingplane.Bydefaultthosevalueswouldbe0,0,0.
3. CreateaCylinder(solidcylinder)withx=5.5y=0r=0.5depth=1Youshouldseethefollowingin
thegraphicsscreen

Wewillnowcopythisvolumesothatwerepeatitevery45degrees.Notethatyoumustcopythe
cylinderbeforeyouusebooleanoperationstosubtractitbecauseyoucannotcopyanemptyspace.
4. WeneedtochangeactiveCStocylindricalY
UtilityMenu>WorkPlane>ChangeActiveCSto>GlobalCylindricalY
ThiswillallowustocopyradiallyabouttheYaxis
5. Create8boltHoles
Preprocessor>Copy>Volumes
SelectthecylindervolumeandclickonOK.Thefollowingwindowwillappearfillinthe
blanksasshown,

Youishouldobtainthefollowingmodel,

Subtractthecylindersfromthepulleyhub(Booleanoperations)tocreatetheboltholes.This
willresultinthefollowingcompletedstructure:

CommandFileModeofSolution

TheaboveexamplewassolvedusingamixtureoftheGraphicalUserInterface(orGUI)andthe
commandlanguageinterfaceofANSYS.ThisproblemhasalsobeensolvedusingtheANSYScommand
languageinterfacethatyoumaywanttobrowse.Openthe.HTMLversion,copyandpastethecodeinto
Notepadorasimilartexteditorandsaveittoyourcomputer.Nowgoto'File>Readinputfrom...'and
selectthefile.A.PDFversionisalsoavailableforprinting.

ProblemDescriptionB
WewillbecreatingasolidmodeloftheSpindleBaseshowninthefollowingfigure.

GeometryGeneration
Wewillcreatethismodelbycreatingthebaseandthebackandthentherib.

CreatetheBase
1. Createthebaserectangle
WPX(XCORNER)

WPY(YCORNER)

WIDTH

HEIGHT

109

102

2. Createthecurvededge(usingkeypointsandlinestocreateanarea)
Createthefollowingkeypoints
X

Keypoint5

20

82

Keypoint6

20

20

Keypoint7

82

Keypoint8

20

Youshouldobtainthefollowing:

Createarcsjoiningthekeypoints
MainMenu>Preprocessor>(Modeling)Create>(Lines)Arcs>ByEndKPs
&Rad
Selectkeypoints4and5(eitherclickonthemortype4,5intothecommandline)
whenprompted.

SelectKeypoint7asthecenterofcurvaturewhenprompted.
Entertheradiusofthearc(20)inthe'ArcbyEndKPs&Radius'window
Repeattocreateanarcfromkeypoints1and6
(Alternatively,typeLARC,4,5,7,20followedbyLARC,1,6,8,20intothecommandline)
CreatealinefromKeypoint5to6
MainMenu>Preprocessor>(Modeling)Create>(Lines)Lines>Straight
Line
L,5,6

CreateanArbitraryareawithintheboundsofthelines
MainMenu>Preprocessor>(Modeling)Create>(Areas)Arbitrary>By
Lines
AL,4,5,6,7

Combinethe2areasinto1(toformArea3)
MainMenu>Preprocessor>(Modeling)Operate>(Booleans)Add>
Volumes
AADD,1,2

Youshouldobtainthefollowingimage:

3. Createthe4holesinthebase
Wewillmakeuseofthe'copy'featureinANSYStocreateall4holes

Createthebottomleftcircle(XCENTER=0,YCENTER=20,RADIUS=10)
Copytheareatocreatethebottomrightcircle(DX=69)
(AGEN,#Copies(includeoriginal),Area#,Area2#(if2areastobe
copied),DX,DY,DZ)
Copybothcirclestocreatetheuppercircles(DY=62)
Subtractthethreecirclesfromthemainbase
(ASBA,3,ALL)
Youshouldobtainthefollowing:

4. Extrudethebase
Preprocessor>(Modeling)Operate>Extrude>(Areas)AlongNormal
Thefollowingwindowwillappearonceyouselectthearea

Fillinthewindowasshown(lengthofextrusion=26mm).Note,toextrudetheareainthe
negativezdirectionyouwouldsimplyenter26.
(Alternatively,typeVOFFST,6,26intothecommandline)

CreatetheBack
1. Changetheworkingplane
Asinthepreviousexample,weneedtochangetheworkingplane.Youmayhaveobservedthat
geometrycanonlybecreatedintheXYplane.Therefore,inordertocreatethebackofthe
SpindleBase,weneedtocreateanewworkingplanewheretheXYplaneisparalleltotheback.
Again,wewilldefinetheworkingplanebyaligningitto3Keypoints.
Createthefollowingkeypoints

#100
#101
#102

X
109
109
159

Y
102
2
102

Z
0
0
sqrt(3)/0.02

Aligntheworkingplanetothe3keypoints
Recallwhendefiningtheworkingplanethefirstkeypointdefinestheorigin,thesecond
keypointdefinesthexaxisorientation,whilethethirddefinestheorientationoftheworking
plane.
(Alternatively,typeKWPLAN,1,100,101,102intothecommandline)
2. Createthebackarea
Createthebaserectangle(XCORNER=0,YCORNER=0,WIDTH=102,HEIGHT=180)
Createacircletoobtainthecurvedtop(XCENTER=51,YCENTER=180,RADIUS=51)
Addthe2areastogether
3. Extrudethearea(lengthofextrusion=26mm)
Preprocessor>(Modeling)Operate>Extrude>(Areas)AlongNormal
VOFFST,27,26

4. Addthebaseandthebacktogether
Addthetwovolumestogether
Preprocessor>(Modeling)Operate>(Booleans)Add>Volumes
VADD,1,2

Youshouldnowhavethefollowinggeometry

Notethattheplanarareasbetweenthetwovolumeswerenotaddedtogether.
Addtheplanarareastogether(don'tforgettheotherside!)
Preprocessor>(Modeling)Operate>(Booleans)Add>Areas
AADD,Area1,Area2,Area3

5. CreatetheUpperCylinder
Createtheoutercylinder(XCENTER=51,YCENTER=180,RADIUS=32,DEPTH=60)
Preprocessor>(Modeling)Create>(Volumes)Cylinder>SolidCylinder
CYL4,51,180,32,,,,60

Addthevolumestogether
Createtheinnercylinder(XCENTER=51,YCENTER=180,RADIUS=18.5,DEPTH=60)
Subtractthevolumestoobtainahole
Youshouldnowhavethefollowinggeometry:

CreatetheRib
1. Changetheworkingplane
Firstchangetheactivecoordinatesystembacktotheglobalcoordinatesystem(thiswill
makeiteasiertoaligntothenewcoordinatesystem)
UtilityMenu>WorkPlane>AlignWPwith>GlobalCartesian
(Alternatively,typeWPCSYS,1,0intothecommandline)
Createthefollowingkeypoints

#200
#201
#202

X
20
0
20

Y
61
61
61

Z
26
26
30

Aligntheworkingplanetothe3keypoints
Recallwhendefiningtheworkingplanethefirstkeypointdefinestheorigin,thesecond
keypointdefinesthexaxisorientation,whilethethirddefinestheorientationoftheworking
plane.
(Alternatively,typeKWPLAN,1,200,201,202intothecommandline)
2. Changeactivecoordinatesystem
Wenowneedtoupdatethecoordiantesystemtofollowtheworkingplanechanges(iemakethe
newWorkPlaneorigintheactivecoordinate)
UtilityMenu>WorkPlane>ChangeActiveCSto>WorkingPlane
CSYS,4

3. Createthearea
Createthekeypointscorrespondingtotheverticesoftherib
X

#203

129(0.57735*26)

#204

129(0.57735*26)+38

sqrt(3)/2*76

Createtheribareathroughkeypoints200,203,204
Preprocessor>(Modeling)Create>(Areas)Arbitrary>ThroughKPs
A,200,203,204

4. Extrudethearea(lengthofextrusion=20mm)
5. Addthevolumestogether
Youshouldobtainthefollowing:

QuittingANSYS
ToquitANSYS,select'QUIT'fromtheANSYSToolbarorselect'UtilityMenu'/'File'/'Exit...'.Inthe
dialogboxthatappears,clickon'SaveEverything'(assumingthatyouwantto)andthenclickon'OK'.