Workshop 2

Linear Static Analysis of a Cantilever Beam:

Multiple Load Cases

Interactive Version
Note: This workshop provides instructions in terms of the Abaqus GUI
interface. If you wish to use the Abaqus Keywords interface instead, please
see the “Keywords” version of these instructions.

Please complete either the Keywords or Interactive version of this

workshop.

Introduction
In this workshop you will become familiar with using load cases in a linear static
analysis. You will model a cantilever beam. The left end of the beam is encastred while a
series of loads are applied to the free end. Six load cases are considered: unit forces in the
global X-, Y-, and Z-directions as well as unit moments about the global X-, Y-, and Z-
directions. The model is shown in Figure W2–1. You will solve the problem using a
single perturbation step with six load cases and (optionally) using six perturbation steps
with a single load case in each step.

Figure W2–1. Cantilever beam model

© Dassault Systèmes, 2020 Introduction to Abaqus/Standard and Abaqus/Explicit

 W2.2

Preliminaries
1. Enter the working directory for this workshop
../abaqus_solvers/interactive/load_cases
2. Run the script ws_solver_load_cases.py using the following command:
abaqus cae startup=ws_solver_load_cases.py.
The above command creates an Abaqus/CAE database named Beam.cae in the current
directory. The geometry, mesh and boundary condition definitions for the beam are
included in the model named LoadCases. You will add the step, load, and load case
definitions to complete the model.

Defining a linear perturbation static step

1. In the Model Tree, double-click Steps.
2. In the Create Step dialog box, name the step BeamLoadCases, choose the
Linear perturbation procedure type, and select Static, Linear perturbation from
the list of procedures, and click Continue.
The step editor appears.
3. In the Basic tabbed page of the step editor, type Six load cases applied
to right end of beam in the Description field.
4. Click OK to create the step and to exit the step editor.

Defining loads and load cases

As indicated in Figure W2–1, we wish to apply forces and moments to the free end of the
beam. However, the beam is modeled with solid C3D8I elements which possess only
displacement degrees of freedom. Thus, only forces may be directly applied to the model.
Rather than applying force couples to the model, we will apply concentrated moments to
the end of the beam. To this end, all loads will be transmitted to the beam through a rigid
body constraint. This approach is adopted to take advantage of the fact that the rigid body
reference node possesses six degrees of freedom in three-dimensions: 3 translations and 3
rotations and thus allows direct application of concentrated moments. Rigid bodies and
constraints will be discussed further in Lesson 5.
Note that a rigid body constraint named Constraint-1 has been created to constrain
the free end of the beam with a predefined reference point named RP-1; therefore, the
forces and moments which you will specify on RP-1 will be transmitted to the beam
through this rigid body constraint (see Figure W2–2).

© Dassault Systèmes, 2020 Introduction to Abaqus/Standard and Abaqus/Explicit

 W2.3

Apply all forces and

moments here.

Figure W2–2. Rigid body reference point

To define loads:
1. In the Model Tree, double-click Loads.
2. In the Create Load dialog box, name the load Force-X, select the step
BeamLoadCases, choose the category Mechanical and the type Concentrated
force, and click Continue.
3. In the viewport, select the reference point RP-1 as the point to which the load will
be applied.
4. In the prompt area, enter refPt as the name of the set which will be created and
click Done to accept the selection.
5. In the Edit Load dialog box, enter a value of 1 for CF1.
6. Click OK to complete the load definition.
7. Using a similar procedure, create two additional Concentrated force loads
named Force-Y and Force-Z and three Moment loads named Moment-X,
Moment-Y, and Moment-Z, with the definitions as listed in Table W2–1.
Tip: To define the additional forces, simply copy Force-X into a new name and
edit its definition; to define the moments, first create Moment-X and then
copy/edit it to define the additional loads. When defining Moment-X click Sets in
the prompt area and select refPt as the load region.
Abaqus/CAE displays arrows at the reference point indicating the loads applied to
the model.

© Dassault Systèmes, 2020 Introduction to Abaqus/Standard and Abaqus/Explicit

 W2.4

Table W2–1. Load definitions

Load name Definition
Force-X CF1 = 1
Force-Y CF2 = 1
Force-Z CF3 = 1
Moment-X CM1 = 1
Moment-Y CM2 = 1
Moment-Z CM3 = 1

To define load cases:

1. In the Model Tree, expand the branch of the step BeamLoadCases underneath
the Steps container and double-click Load Cases to create a load case in the
step.
2. In the Create Load Case dialog box, name the load case LC-Force-X, accept
BeamLoadCases as the step, and click Continue.
The load case editor appears.

3. Click at the bottom of the Edit Load Case dialog box.

4. In the Load Selection dialog box that appears, select Force-X and click OK to
confirm the selection and to return to the load case editor.
5. Click OK to exit the Edit Load Case dialog box.
6. Create five additional load cases: one for each of the remaining loads. Name the
load cases LC-Force-Y, LC-Force-Z, LC-Moment-X, LC-Moment-Y, and
LC-Moment-Z and add the corresponding load to each.
Tip: Copy/edit LC-Force-X to define the additional load cases.
Note that the fixed-end boundary conditions were defined in the initial step, and
as such, are active in each load case of the analysis step.

Creating and submitting the analysis job

To create and submit the analysis job:

1. Create a job named LoadCases for this linear static perturbation analysis.
Tip: To create a job, double-click Jobs in the Model Tree.
2. Save your model database file and submit the job for analysis. In the Model Tree,
click mouse button 3 on the job name and select Submit from the menu that
appears. From the same menu, you can select Monitor to monitor the job’s
progress.

© Dassault Systèmes, 2020 Introduction to Abaqus/Standard and Abaqus/Explicit

 W2.5

Viewing the analysis results

When the job is complete, click mouse button 3 on the job LoadCases in the Model Tree
and select Results from the menu that appears.
Abaqus/CAE switches to the Visualization module and opens the output database
LoadCases.odb. Examine the results of the analysis. Note that load case output is
stored in separate frames in the output database. Use the Frame Selector (click in the
context bar) to choose which load case is displayed (alternatively, open the Step/Frame
dialog box by selecting Result→Step/Frame). Figure W2–3 shows contour plots of the
Mises stress for each of the load cases.

Force-X Force-Y Force-Z

Moment-X Moment-Y Moment-Z

Figure W2–3. Mises stress contours

© Dassault Systèmes, 2020 Introduction to Abaqus/Standard and Abaqus/Explicit

 W2.6

Combining results from the load cases and envelope plots

You will now linearly combine the results of each load case to plot the stress and
deformation in the beam under a given load combination. Recall that each load case is
based on a unit load; the results of each load case will be scaled relative to those obtained
for LC-Force-Y when combining the data.
1. From the main menu bar, select Tools→Field Output→Create From Frames.
2. In the dialog box that appears, accept Sum values over all frames as the
operation.

3. In the Frames tabbed page, click . In the Add Frames dialog box that
appears, choose BeamLoadCases as the step from which to obtain the data.
Click Select All and then click OK to close the dialog box.
4. Remove the initial frame; for the remaining frames, enter the scale factors shown
in Figure W2–4.

Figure W2–4 Scale factors for linear combination of load cases.

5. Switch to the Fields tabbed page to examine the data that will be combined.
Accept the default selection (all available field data) and click OK to close the
dialog box.
6. From the main menu bar, select Result→Step/Frame.
7. In the Step/Frame dialog box, select Session Step as the active step for output
and click OK.

© Dassault Systèmes, 2020 Introduction to Abaqus/Standard and Abaqus/Explicit

 W2.7

8. Plot the Mises stress as shown in Figure W2–5. Note that this figure has been
customized to overlay the undeformed model shape on the contour plot and a
deformation scale factor of 5e4 has been used.

Figure W2–5 Mises stress due to combined loading.

9. Now create an envelope plot of the maximum stress in the beam:

a. From the main menu bar, select Tools→Field Output→Create From
Frames.
b. In the dialog box that appears, select Find the maximum value over all
frames as the operation.

c. In the Frames tabbed page, click . In the Add Frames dialog box that
appears, choose BeamLoadCases as the step from which to obtain the
data. Select all but the initial frame then click OK to close the dialog box.
d. Switch to the Fields tabbed page. Unselect all output and then select only
S and U. Also select the Element Nodal position for S. This is
recommended when computing the maximum (or minimum) value over all
frames. Otherwise, the maximum (or minimum) integration point values
from different frames are determined and then extrapolated. Integration
point values coming from different frames may cause the extrapolated
values to deviate significantly since such integration point values do not
correspond to a physically meaningful state. Using nodal values that have
been extrapolated from a consistent set of integration point values is more
realistic in this case.
e. Click OK to close the dialog box.
f. From the main menu bar, select Result→Step/Frame.
g. In the Step/Frame dialog box, select Session Step as the active step for
output and The maximum value over all selected frames as the frame,
as shown in Figure W2–6. Click OK and then dismiss the warning
message that appears (you will set the primary variable in the next step).

© Dassault Systèmes, 2020 Introduction to Abaqus/Standard and Abaqus/Explicit

 W2.8

Figure W2–6 Frame selection for envelope plot.

h. In the Field Output dialog box (Result→Field Output), select S_max as

the primary variable and U_max as the deformed variable.
i. Plot the Mises stress as shown in Figure W2–7. Note that this figure has
been customized to overlay the undeformed model shape on the contour
plot and a deformation scale factor of 5e4 has been used.

Figure W2–7 Envelope plot of maximum Mises stress.

© Dassault Systèmes, 2020 Introduction to Abaqus/Standard and Abaqus/Explicit

 W2.9

Using Multiple Perturbation Steps (Optional)

Now perform the same analysis using multiple perturbation steps rather than multiple
load cases.
1. In the Model Tree, click mouse button 3 on the model LoadCases and select
Copy Model from the menu that appears. Name the new model MultiSteps.
2. For the model MultiSteps, delete the step BeamLoadCases.
Note that all of the loads and load cases will be deleted when you delete the step
BeamLoadCases.
3. Create six new linear perturbation static steps named Step-FX, Step-FY, Step-
FZ, Step-MX, Step-MY, and Step-MZ.
4. In the Model Tree, double-click Loads for the model MultiSteps and define a
concentrated force load called Force-X in the step Step-FX with CF1=1.0 at the
reference point.
5. Similarly, create loads named Force-Y, Force-Z, Moment-X, Moment-Y, and
Moment-Z in steps Step-FY, Step-FZ, Step-MX, Step-MY, and Step-MZ,
respectively. Here CF2=1.0, CF3=1.0, CM1=1.0, CM2=1.0, and CM3=1.0 at
the reference point in the respective loads.
Note that the fixed-end boundary conditions were defined in the initial step, and
therefore, are active in each analysis step.
6. Create a new job named MultiSteps for the model MultiSteps and make sure to
select the new model for the source. Submit the new job for analysis and monitor
the job’s status.
7. When the job is complete, open the output database MultiSteps.odb in the
Visualization module and compare the results obtained using both modeling
approaches. You will find that the results are identical.

Comparing solution times

Next, open the message (.msg) file for each job in the job monitor. Scroll to the bottom
of the file and compare the solution times. You will notice that the multiple step analysis
required four times as much CPU time as the multiple load case analysis. For a small
model such as this one, the overall analysis time is small so speeding up the analysis by a
factor of four may not appear significant. However, it is clear that for large jobs, the
speedup offered by multiple load cases will play a significant role in reducing the time
required to obtain a solution for a given problem.

© Dassault Systèmes, 2020 Introduction to Abaqus/Standard and Abaqus/Explicit

 W2.10

Multiple load case analysis:

ANALYSIS SUMMARY:
TOTAL OF 1 INCREMENTS
0 CUTBACKS IN AUTOMATIC INCREMENTATION
1 ITERATIONS
1 PASSES THROUGH THE EQUATION SOLVER OF WHICH
:
:

THE SPARSE SOLVER HAS BEEN USED FOR THIS ANALYSIS.

JOB TIME SUMMARY

USER TIME (SEC) = 0.10000
SYSTEM TIME (SEC) = 0.00000
TOTAL CPU TIME (SEC) = 0.10000
WALLCLOCK TIME (SEC) = 1

Multiple perturbation step analysis:

ANALYSIS SUMMARY:
TOTAL OF 6 INCREMENTS
0 CUTBACKS IN AUTOMATIC INCREMENTATION
6 ITERATIONS
6 PASSES THROUGH THE EQUATION SOLVER OF WHICH
:
:

THE SPARSE SOLVER HAS BEEN USED FOR THIS ANALYSIS.

JOB TIME SUMMARY

USER TIME (SEC) = 0.2000
SYSTEM TIME (SEC) = 0.2000
TOTAL CPU TIME (SEC) = 0.4000
WALLCLOCK TIME (SEC) = 2

Note: A script that creates the complete models described in these

instructions is available for your convenience. Run this script if you
encounter difficulties following the instructions or if you wish to check your
work. The script is named ws_solver_load_cases_answer.py and is
available using the Abaqus fetch utility.

© Dassault Systèmes, 2020 Introduction to Abaqus/Standard and Abaqus/Explicit