ANSYS Workbench Tutorial 1.

Static Structural Analysis of a Truss

Instructor: Asst. Prof. Dr. Samet AKAR
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Çankaya University

Problem Description
Determine the nodal deflections, for the truss system shown below. Assume an elastic modulus of E=210
Gpa and a Poisson’s ratio of 0.27. The truss is made up of circular bar elements of radius 100 mm.
1. Open ANSYS workbench.

2. Double Click on Static Structural or drag and drop Static Structural into the project Schematic
area.
3. To change the title of your analysis double click on the text Static Structural and type: 2D
Truss

3. Save your project: File Save

Type the name of the project: for example, 2D Truss
4. Double click Engineering Data-Expand Isotropic Elasticity Node

Type 2.1E11 in front of Young’s Modulus and 0.27 in front of Poisson’s Ratio.
5. Close Engineering Data window

6. Right Click on the Geometry cell and select New DesignModeler Geometry...
You may need to wait for DesignModeler to start depending on your PC specifications.
7. In the DesignModeler, find Tree Outline, Right Click on XYPlane and select Look at

8. Click on Sketching Tab, select Settings, click on Grid and put a tick for Show in 2D and Snap
Click on Major Grid Spacing and type 4
Click on Minor-Steps per major and type 4
9. Use the middle mouse button to zoom in the graphics. Then select Draw>Line

9. Draw the geometry of the given truss

10. Select Dimensions to control the length of the elements and change the lengths if necessary.
11. To define the cross-section of the truss elements, go to Concept>Cross Section>Circular

Type 0.1 for radius.

12. Go to concept>Line from sketches

select all lines and apply.

13. Right-click on Line2 and click on Generate

14. Expand 1 Part, select Line Body and in the list for Cross Section select Circular 1.

15. Close DesignModeler

16. Double click on the Model.

17. Click on the Z axis in the Graphics area.

18. Right click on the Mesh and click on update

19. To check for the number of elements and nodes in your model: Click on the Mesh
Go the Statistics
As can be seen ANSYS meshes the links of the truss, which is not correct according to the
assumptions we have made in ME402.
Therefore, we need to make each element of the truss as one element. To do so we need to change
the element size.
20. Expand the Defaults and enter 8 m for the element size.

However, this does not ensure having pin joints at the connection joints of the truss, meaning the
members still can carry bending moments. to check the type of the mode:

21.
21. Under geometry click on like body and check for the model type.

The ANSYS workbench cannot handle link elements necessary for this purpose. Therefore, it is
necessary to use ANSYS APDL for this purpose. So the next step is to change beams in line elements
to links in those line elements.
21. Right-click on Line Element> Insert> Commands

22. In the command window type the following commands:

23 Add Boundary Conditions:
Right-click on Static Structural>Insert>Fixed Support

To be able to select Vertices

Press the control button on the keyboard and select the two corners of the truss
Click on the yellow-colored cell and Apply

24. Apply Forces: Right Click Static Structural>Insert>Force

Select three Nodes as shown and apply

In the list Defined by>select components

In front of Y componentm type -20000 N

25. Right click Solution> Insert>Deformation>Directional

For the orientation select Y axis.

26. Right-click solution and Solve

27. Click on Directional Deformation and see the results.

28. To treat the elements as beam elements, right-click on Command (APDL)> Delete
29. Right Click Solution>Insert>Beam Tool>Beam Tool

30. Right click Beam Tool>Insert>Beam Tool>Deformation>Directional

Set the oriantation to Y axis

31. Right click solution and Solve
32. Click Beam Tool outputs to see the results