Download - LS-PrePost Intro 2013
Introduction to LS-PrePost Quanqing Yan, Philip Ho, LSTC January 2013
Table of Contents
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013
SECTION WORKSHOPS
Overview -
General Operations Workshop 01
Mesh Generation Workshop 02
Pre-Processing Workshop 03-06
Post-Processing Workshop 07-08
Command File and Macros Workshop 09
Extra Pre-Processing Exercises Workshop 10
Configuration Files -
2 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Overview
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 3 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
About LS-PrePost
LS-PrePost is an advanced pre and post-processor designed specifically for LS-DYNA
LS-PrePost is developed for Windows and Linux
LS-PrePost is Free
Core Functionality
• Full support of LS-DYNA keyword files
• Full support of LS-DYNA results files
• Robust handling of geometry data (new CAD engine in 3.x)
• Pre-processing (meshing, model clean-up, entity creation)
• Post-processing (animation, fringe plotting, curve plotting)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 4 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Online Resources
Official Website
• http://www.lstc.com/lspp
User Group
• http://groups.google.com/group/ls-prepost
Latest Release Version:
• http://ftp.lstc.com/anonymous/outgoing/lsprepost/4.0/
• ftp://ftp.lstc.com/outgoing/lsprepost/4.0/
Beta Version:
• http://ftp.lstc.com/anonymous/outgoing/lsprepost/dev
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 5 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Input / Output
Input (partial list)
• FEM: LS-DYNA Keyword, Nastran, I-DEAS Universal, PAM-CRASH, RADIOSS
• CAD: IGES, STEP
• ASCII: glstat, matsum, etc…
• Binary: d3plot, binout, etc…
Output (partial list)
• FEM: LS-DYNA Keyword, Nastran, STL
• Image: BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, PostScript
• Movie: AVI, MPEG, Animated GIF
• XY Data: CRV, CSV, XML
• Other: Post.db, Project File
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 6 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Mouse and Keyboard
Dynamic Model Operation
• Rotate: Shift + Left-click
• Translate: Shift + Middle-click
• Zoom: Shift + Right-click/Scroll-wheel
(Using Ctrl instead of Shift for edge mode)
Graphics Selection
• Pick (single): Left Click
• Area (rectangle): Left-click + Drag
• Poly (polygon): Left-click at corners / Right-click to finish
List Selection
• Multi-Select: Left-click + Drag / Ctrl + Left-click
Mouse over controls for status bar help comments
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 7 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
GUI Layout
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Menus File management & preferences
Command Line Type in operation command
Bottom Toolbar Model rendering controls
Right Toolbar Access to pre and post-processing tools
Graphics Viewport
©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Message window Prompt message
Transition Tips (version 2.4 to 3.X/4.X)
Function Key: F11
• Toggles between v2.4 and v3.X style user interface
Menu: View > Toolbar > Text & Icon
• Turns on icon labels for bottom and right toolbars
Menu: Help > Old to New
• Provides mapping between v2.4 page interface buttons and v3.X toolbar icons
Menu: Help > Document/Tutorial
• Download LSPP basic documentation for all functions
• Download Tutorials on various simple problems
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation 9
File Menu New – Launch a new session of LS-PrePost, all model/data will be
closed (only in version 4.0 and later)
Open – Open file (new model created for each file opened)
Import – Import file (adds keyword data to current model)
Recent – Open recent files (stored in /user/.lspp_recent)
Save – Over-write current Keyword or Project file
Save As – Save any of the following file formats using advanced options: Keyword, Active Keyword (visible data), Project, Post.db (condensed d3plot data), Geometry, Keyword and Project (using same file name)
Update – Load new d3plots for run in progress
Run LS-DYNA – pop up LS-DYNA job submission dialog, currently only limited to the same local machine LS-PrePost is running
Print... – Launch printing interface (send to printer or image file)
Movie... – Launch movie generation interface
Exit – Exit LS-PrePost
Save and Exit – Save data to current file and exit LS-PrePost
LS-PrePost Intro | November , 2012 10 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
File → Open LS-DYNA Binary Plot – d3plot, interface file, or d3thdt
LS-DYNA Keyword File – ASCII formatted input file
Time History File – d3thdt (after loading d3plot)
Command File – Command session file
Post.db File – Database file (created by cdb=input)
Project File – Project file (pre-processing)
Interface Force File – Interface force file (post-processing)
IGES File – Geometry data in IGES format
STEP File – Geometry data in STEP format
Nastran File – Nastran bulk data file
Nastran+pch File – Nastran stress result file
Lsplot File – Obsolete
Others – Additional input file types
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 11 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Misc. Menu View Model Info – Launch model information interface
View Memory Info – Launch memory usage interface
View Message Info – Launch keyword reader message interface
Display Ruler – Launch ruler interface
Set Keyword Title – Launch title interface
Swap Byte On Title – Swap byte order for title
Start Recording Commands – Start/stop recording macro commands
Launch Macro Interface – Launch Macro interface
Manage Command File – Launch command file interface
Execute System Call – Launch system call interface
Keyword File Separate – Separate a single keyword file into multiple files based on *KEYWORD title
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 12 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
View Menu Full Screen (Esc to Exit) – Show graphics area in full screen mode
Background – Set background style (plain, faded, or image)
Geometry Shade – Set geometry rendering style
Element Shade – Set element rendering style
All Element/Geometry – Show all elements/geometry
Ref Geometry – Show reference geometry
Points/Curves/Surfaces – Show points/curves/surfaces
Toolbar – Hide/display toolbars, set text/icon mode, and set font size
Local Axes – Toggle between global/local
Beam Prism – Toggle between line/prism
Smooth Fringe Color – Enable smooth contours (when in fringe mode)
Keep Zout Orientation – Maintain orientation when zooming out
Show Deleted Nodes – Display deleted nodes when viewing results
Show Deleted Elements – Display deleted elements when viewing results
Result On Screen – Display results on screen when Ident > Show Results is active (when in fringe mode)
Smooth Shade – Use smooth shading
Record Message – Write messages to lspost.msg
Show Mid-Side Nodes – for 10-node Tetrahedron element
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 13 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Geometry Menu Reference Geometry – Access tools for creating and editing
reference geometry (Axis, Plane, Coordinate System, and Point)
Curve – Access tools for creating and editing curves (Point, Line, Circle, Circular Arc, Ellipse, Elliptical Arc, BSpline Curve, Helix, Composite Curve, Break Curve, Merge Curve, Bridge Edge, Smooth Curve, Middle Curve, Morphing Curve, Fillet Curve)
Surface – Access tools for creating and editing surfaces (Plane, Cylinder, Cone, Sphere, Torus, Fill Plane, Extrude, Revolve, Sweep, Loft, N-Side Surface, Patch Surface, Bridge Two Faces, Combine Faces, Fit From Points/Mesh, Middle Surface, Surface Morphing)
Solid – Access tools for creating and editing solids (Box, Cylinder, Cone, Sphere, Torus, Extrude, Revolve, Sweep, Loft, Fillet, Chamfer, Draft, Thicken, Wedge, Boolean)
Geometry Tools – Access other geometry tools (Delete Face, Extend Curve, Extend Face, Intersection, Offset, Project, Replace Face, Stitch Faces, Trim Transform, Copy Entity, Management, Heal, Topology Simplify, Measure)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 14 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
FEM Menu Element and Mesh – Access mesh creation tools (Shape
Mesher, Auto Mesher, Solid Mesher, Block Mesher, N-Line Mesher, Tetrahedral Mesher, Blank Mesher, Element Generation, Node Editing, Element, Editing, Mass Trimming, Spot Welding, SPH Generation)
Model and Part – Access model and part tools (Assembly and Select Part, Keyword Manager, Create Entity, Display Entity, Reference Check, Renumber, Section Plane, Model Selection, Subsystem Manager, Group, View, Part Color, Appearance, Annotation, Split Window, Explode, Lighting Setup)
Element Tools – Access element tools (Identify, Find, Blank, Move or Copy, Offset, Transform, Normals, Detach, Measure, Morph, Smooth, Part Trim, Part Travel)
Post – Access post-processing tools (Fringe Component, Fringe Range, History, XY Plot, ASCII, Binary Output, Follow, Trace, State, Particle, Circle Grid, Chain Model, FLD, Output, Setting, Vector)
Favorites – Customizable toolbar (see Setting → Toolbar Manager)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 15 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Application Menu Airbag Folding
Dummy Positioning
Seatbelt Fitting
Metal Forming
ALE Setup
Model Checking
Intrusion Measurements
Head Impact Positioning
Granular Flow Setup
Airbag Impact Setup
Media
Sled Creation
DynFold
Curve Gen
Customize
THUMS Positioning
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 16 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Setting Menu Current Subsystem ID – Set current subsystem ID
Current Working Directory – Set current working directory
General Settings – Set general parameters
Post Settings – Set post processing parameters
Configuration Settings – Set configuration settings
Toolbar Manager – Customize toolbars
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 17 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Help Menu Document – View LS-PrePost documentation
Tutorial – View LS-PrePost tutorials
Will need to download the Help and Tutorial documents from LSTC’s ftp site the first time these documents are being accessed
Old to New – View mapping between old (v2.4) and new (v3.X) GUI
Release Notes – View release notes
Check for Update – Check server for newer version of LS-PrePost
About LS-PrePost – View version info
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Bottom Toolbar
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Opti Toggle Title, Legend, Min-Max, Time Stamp, Triad,
Background Color, Mesh Color, and Performance Stats on/off
HidEle Display elements with hidden lines removed
ShaEle Display elements in shaded mode with mesh lines off
VieEle Display elements in plain color mode
WirEle Display elements in wireframe mode
Feat Display elements in feature line mode (default angle=30°)
Edge Display elements in edge line mode
Grid Display each nodal point as a colored pixel
Mesh Toggle element mesh on/off
Shrink Draw elements in shrunken mode (default=0.85)
Frin Toggle Fringe/Line-contours/Iso-surfaces
Unref Toggle unreferenced nodes on/off
EdgGeo Display geometry in shaded mode with edges on
ShaGeo Display geometry in shaded mode with edges off
WirGeo Display geometry in wireframe mode
ShfCtr Toggle Off/Shift/Ctrl (for one-handed rotate/pan/zoom)
Clear Clear all picked or highlighted information
AutCen Automatically center model to fit within window
ZoIn Zoom in, click and drag to draw a box
Zout Zoom out to previous zoom position
Pcen Pick node as new center point for model rotation
VCrd View coordinate systems
Top Choose Top, Bottom, Front, Back, Right, or Left view
Angle Left-click to reverse rotation direction
Right-click to modify rotation angle
Rotate Left-click to rotate about axis shown
Right-click to switch rotation axis (X/Y/Z)
Persp Toggle Parallel/Perspective view mode
ActAll Restore all entities to be active
BacCol Toggle background color black/white (Plain background mode only)
Anim Display animation controls or start/stop animation
SelPart Launch Assembly and Select Part interface
ResPart Restore the last removed part (Shift+R)
Plot Open XY plot management interface
©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
General Operations
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 20 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
FEM General Selection
ID Enter Ids of the entity to be selected into the text box for highlighting
Type When selecting element, choose element type to be selected
Label selection put a label on the selected entities
Prop Propagate selection (pick seed)
Adap Propagate across adaptive elements
Ang Feature angle for propagation to stop
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Pick Select a single entity
Area Select using a rectangular window
Poly Select using an irregular polygon
Sel1 Pick 1 entity (only 1 will be in buffer)
Sphe Select entities within a sphere
Box Select entities within a box
Prox Select entities within proximity to a part
Circ Select entities within a circle
Frin Select entities within a fringe plot range
Plan Select entities within a plane
In Select entities inside Area/Poly
Out Select entities outside Area/Poly
Add Add entities to a selection set
Rm Remove entities to a selection set
©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
FEM General Selection
ByNode Select nodes ByElem Select elements ByPart Select parts BySet Set based selection ByEdge Edge based selection ByPath Select first and last along a path BySegm Select segments BySurf Select surface (geometry)
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Adjacent Select adjacent elements
Attach Select attached elements
Clear Clear selection
Save Save selection to buffer or to file
Load Load selection from buffer or
from file
Deselect Undo last selection
Whole Select all entities in model
Visible Select all visible entities
Reverse Reverse selection
©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Assembly and Select Part Purpose: turn parts on/off (on=“active”)
Parts listed by PID and name (or element type)
Top drop-down menu selects current model
Parts can be turned on/off by element type
Use General selection to select parts
Active parts can be Saved/Loaded from buffers (via Save button in General selection)
Selected displays active parts only in list
Info button launches Part Information interface for active parts
SortBy button launches Part Sort interface
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Model->Select Part->SortBy
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Options to select info
to be tabulated
Each header can be
clicked to sort the IDs
of that column
Highlighted parts can
be set as active part in
the graphics rendering
Model → MSelect → Select Purpose: switch between loaded models, view multiple
models, perform keyword comparison
Select – display selected model(s)
Trans – translate a model (for visualization only, useful for side-by-side animation)
Remove – unload a model
Info – show model summary
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 25 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Groups Purpose: create part groups
Groups are automatically generated for all *SET_PART that exist in the model
Create – create a new group from active parts
Select – load the selected group
Add – add a group to the current display
Subtract – subtract a group from the current display
Save – save groups to an ASCII file
Load – load groups from file (Save and Load effective for presentations)
Or, And, Xor – used for Adding groups
Auto Center – automatically center the selected group
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 26 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Views Purpose: create views (based on color, appearance,
orientation, and active parts)
Create – create a new view
Select – load the selected view
Delete – delete the selected view
Save – save views to a binary file
Load – load views from file
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 27 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Appearance Purpose: modify the appearance of parts
Parts can be selected by Single/Area/Polygon
Each selected part will have the selected rendering options applied
Thick – draw shells with true thickness
Sphere – draw solid part nodes as spheres (for EFG)
AllVis – selected rendering options are applied to all active parts
Render buttons are disabled while using Appear interface
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 28 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Part Color Purpose: modify part color and transparency
Set/Show colors for parts or other entities (background, text, mesh, labels)
Sky (top), Middle, Ground (bottom) refer to background color (when View > Background > Tri Fade is selected)
Select color from palette or form new color using RBG
Editmap – to assign new color to the color map
Fringe colors can also be changed – select a fringe color, then after the color selection, click Fringe button.
Amap – apply the current color map to part drawing
Rstp – restore transparency of all parts to opaque
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 29 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Part Color Smap – save the current color map to a file
Lmap – load color map from a previous saved file
Transparency – draw part in transparent mode, transparency factor:
0.0 fully opaque (once is set to 0.0, need to click part again to turn it into transparent)
1.0 totally transparent
Pick toggle – pick a part to toggle it from opague to transparent and vice versa
Pick through – pick through a part to set part that is behind this part
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 30 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Annotation Purpose: annotate Graphics and XY-Plot windows
Position – interactively position text
Arrow – add fixed arrow
Nd Arrow – add arrow tied to node location
Move – move annotations
Text size, color, and orientation can be adjusted
Annotations can be saved to / loaded from a file
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 31 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Explode Purpose: separate (explode) parts for better
visualization
Factor – scale factor for parts movement
Direction – direction for part movement
All – explode all parts
Part – explode selected parts only
PtGroup – explode a group of parts (defined using Page 1: Group)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 32 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Lighting Setup Purpose: adjust model and material lighting
Light – adjust model lights • 2 lights are on by default
Front – position (0.0, 0.0, 1.0)
Back – position (0.0, 0.0, -1.0)
• Up to 8 more can be activated
• The following properties can be adjusted for each
Ambient
Diffuse
Specular
Position
Material – adjust material lighting
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 33 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tools → Identify Purpose: identify nodes/elements/parts
Uses General Selection interface
Entity types: • Node, Element, Part, Curve, Surface, Particle, constrained
nodal rigid body (cnrb)
Element types: • Shell, Solid, Beam, TShell, SPH, Mass, Discrete, Seatbelt,
Inertia, Nurbs, DiscSph, Any
Max. number of IDs that can be shown is 12800
Can key in xyz coordinates to show position
Can show element directions (shell and beam)
Can show orthotropic material directions
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 34 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tools → Identify Purpose: identify nodes/elements/parts
Can show node/element results (after fringing in post-processing)
Can show element results at integration points
To show result on screen, go to pull down menu View, and turn on “Results on Screen”
When identifying a very large no. of nodes or elements, make sure to turn off “Echo” and turn on “No ID”, otherwise will take a long time to come back
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 35 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tools → Blank Purpose: temporarily hide or “mask” elements
Uses General Selection interface
Entity types: • Node, Element, CNRB, Curve, Surface, Particle
Element types: • Shell, Solid, Beam, TShell, SPH, Mass, Discrete, Seatbelt,
Inertia, Nurbs, DiscSph, Any element
UnBlank Part – click to restore partially hidden parts
Auto-Apply – blank automatically (no need to click Apply button)
Auto-Update – update display of solid surfaces and edges automatically (no need to click Update Surf or Update Edge)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 36 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tools → Find Purpose: find nodes/elements/parts/Cnrb
Find any element by ID or specified type
Show Only – shows found entity by itself
Highlight – highlights found entity
Neighbors – propagates to neighboring elements
UnblankAll – turns on all elements and parts
UnblankPart – turns on all elements in part that found node/element belongs to
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 37 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 1 General Operations
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 38 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 1 Load and view an LS-DYNA Keyword file...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop1/belted.k)
Use Shift + Left Click to rotate the model
Click the Auto Center (AutCen) render button (or hit Ctrl+A)
Click the Mesh / Shrink / HidEle / VieEle / WirEle / Feat / Edge render buttons
Use the part selection interface...
Go to Model → Assembly and Select Part (“SelPart”) and select individual parts from the list
Use Ctrl + Left Click to select multiple parts
Click All to display all parts
Toggle Beam / Shell / Solid / Disc / SBelt
Click SortBy button and turn on/off some check boxes in the setting columns in the Part Sort dialog
Click the MatTypeName header to see the sorting effect
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 39 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 1 (continued...)
Create a part group...
Go to Model → Groups
Click Create (all displayed parts will be saved to “Group_43”)
Go to Model → Assembly and Part (SelPart) and manually turn off some parts
Go to Model → Groups
Select “Group_43” from the list and click Select
Identify nodes and elements...
Turn on the mesh (using the Mesh render button)
Go to Element Tools → Identify
Select Node in the Identify interface and pick some nodes in the model to display their IDs
Select Element in the Identify interface and pick some elements
Toggle Elem Dir to display the N1 to N2 direction
Click the Clear render button to clear all highlighted entities
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 40 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 1 (continued...)
Modify part appearance...
Go to Model → Appearance
Select any one of the drawing modes Hide / Edge / Shad / Wire
in the Appearance interface
Pick some parts in the model
Toggle Thick in the Appearance interface and click AllVis
Click the Zoom In render button (or hit Ctrl+Z) and zoom in on a shell part to verify that thickness is displayed
Blank some elements...
Go to Element Tools → Blank
Select Area in the General Selection interface and draw a box to blank some elements
Click Reverse in the Blank interface
Click Unblank All in the Blank interface
Click the Assembly and Part (SelPart) render button
Select “88 PSHELL” from the list, click the Auto Center (AutCen) render button, and click Done in the Assembly and Part interface
Toggle Prop (propagate) in the General Selection interface, select Ang: 15, and pick an element on the front of the torso
Click Unblank All
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 41 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 1 (continued...)
Create a view...
Go to Model → Views
Click Create (the current view will be saved as “View_01”)
Rotate the model and click Create again
Select “View_01” from the list and click Select
Click the ActAll render button to display the entire model
Find a node and element...
Go to Element Tools → Find and select Show Only
Enter 1439 in the text field and click Find
Click Neighbors several times
Select Node in the Find interface
Enter 5340 in the text field and click Find
Click Neighbors several times
Click the Clear render button
Go to Model → Assembly and Part (SelPart)
Click All
Go to Element Tools → Blank
Click Unblank All
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 42 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 1 (continued...)
Modify color and transparency...
Go to Model → Part Color (PtColor)
Select Transparency
Pick the roof of the structure and adjust the slider
Select Pick Through and pick through the roof to make some additional components transparent
Select Pick Toggle and pick the roof again to make it opaque
Click Visible and drag the slider to the far left
Select Color
Adjust color using the RGB sliders
Select Set and pick some parts
Select any color from color map
Click Backg (only works when View > Background > Plain is selected)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 43 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Mesh Generation
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 44 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Mesh → Shape Mesher Purpose: mesh basic geometries
Box_Solid, Box_Shell – define min/max coordinates and mesh density
4N-Shell – define 4 corners and mesh density
Sphere_Solid, Sphere_Shell – define center, radius, and mesh density (quarter circle)
Cylinder_Solid, Cylinder_Shell – define center, direction, radius, length and mesh density (if number of elements in circumferential direction is multiple of 4, butterfly mesh will be create)
Circle_Shell – define outer radius, inner radius (if hole is desired), angle (to create an arc), mesh density, and normal direction
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 45 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Create Position Interface Purpose: define an XYZ location
By picking a position
By picking a node
At an element center
At an edge midpoint
At the average center of nodes or elements
At the center of a circle
New *NODE can be created
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 46 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Create Direction Interface Purpose: define a direction
By picking 2 positions
By picking 2 nodes
Along an element edge
Along an element normal
Direction can be rotated about global or local coordinate system
New *DEFINE_VECTOR can be created
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 47 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Mesh → Auto Mesher (Size) Size mode creates uniformly sized elements
Can be mix of quad and tri element or all tri only
Compute button will give rough estimate of element size
Mesh by GPart will create separate LS-DYNA part for each geometry part
Ignore Hole Size, hole size smaller than this value will be ignore and be filled with elements
General meshing procedure... • Select surfaces to be meshed
• Enter average element size
• Click Mesh
• Click Accept
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 48 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Mesh → Auto Mesher (Deviation) Deviation mode is tool mesher for metal stamping
applications
Deviation mode creates small elements on curved surfaces and large elements on flat surfaces
4 parameters control the element size • Max element size
• Min element size
• Max deviation
• Max angle
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 49 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Mesh → Solid Mesher Solid meshing by blocks
Uses cut & dice method followed by sweeping
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Define cutting planes on geometry
Cut and trim into small blocks
Sweep block faces to form hex elements
Mesh → N-Line Mesher Purpose: create mesh from 2/3/4 lines
2 Line Shell – create mesh between 2 lines
3 Line Shell – create mesh between 3 lines
4 Line Shell – create mesh between 4 lines • Enter number of elements on each edge
• Or enter element size
• Or use points on lines to create elements
Line Sweep – sweep one line along another line
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 51 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Mesh → Tetrahedron Mesher Purpose: create solid elements (tets) inside an enclosed
shell volume
Limitation: only 1 “skin” part is accepted
Requirement: skin normals must be aligned
Skin can be remeshed to give better solid tet mesh
10-node tets can also be created
Solid tet mesh can be translated in space
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 52 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Mesh → Element Generation (Beam) Purpose: create beam elements
On an edge
On a curve
By dragging nodes
By spinning nodes
Along shell diagonals
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 53 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Mesh → Element Generation (Shell) Purpose: create shell elements
On all outer surfaces of a solid
On individual solid faces
By dragging an edge
By spinning an edge
By extending an edge
By dragging a curve
By spinning a curve
From a segment set
By filling holes
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 54 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Mesh → Element Generation (Solid) Purpose: create solid elements
By dragging shells
By offsetting shells
By spinning shells
Using shell thickness
By sweeping shells along a path
Between two shells sets (must have identical mesh connectivity)
4-noded tet to 10-noded tet
Hex to 4-noded tet
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 55 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 2 Mesh Generation
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 56 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 2 Create a solid cylinder and a shell cylinder...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
Go to Mesh → Shape Mesher
Select Entity: Cylinder_Solid
Enter Radius: 5, Length: 10, Num Ele (Circumferential): 32, Num (Length): 20
Enter XYZ: 0,0,1 for position
Click dirz (set direction to 0,0,1)
Click Create and Accept
Select Entity: Cylinder_Shell
Enter Num Ele: 30 (leave other parameters unchanged)
Enter XYZ: 0,0,-1 for position
Click dirz again (changes direction to 0,0,-1)
Activate Top And Bottom (meshes ends of cylinder)
Click Create and Accept
Turn on the mesh (using the Mesh render button)
Rotate the model such that you can see the cross-section of both cylinders (note the different cross-sectional mesh of the two parts)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 57 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 2 (continued...)
Create a mesh from 4 lines...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > IGES File (select /workshop2/test_4lmesh_curves.igs)
Click Open in the IGES Read Options popup
Go to Mesh → N-Line Mesher
Select Type: 4 Line Shell
Pick the longest curve
Pick the remaining curves in clockwise order
Enter N1: 24 (and hit Enter)
Enter N2: 12 (and hit Enter)
Enter N3: 20 (and hit Enter)
Enter N4: 10 (and hit Enter)
Click Mesh It and Accept
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 58 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 2 (continued...)
Sweep one line along another...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > IGES File (select /workshop2/sweep_lines.igs)
Click Open in the IGES Read Options popup
Go to Mesh → N-Line Mesher
Select Type: Line Sweep
Select Mesh By: Points of Line
Pick the square line
Pick the attached curve
Click Mesh It and Accept
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 59 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 2 (continued...)
Sweep one line along another...
Go to Curve → Circle
Select Method: Parameters
Click the “.” button next to Origin Point X
Select Geometry in the Create Position interface
Pick the endpoint of the remaining curve
Click Done in the Create Position interface
Enter Direction X Y Z: 1 0 0
Enter Radius: 50 and click Apply
Go to Mesh → N-Line Mesher
Select Mesh By: Number of elements
Pick the circle and click the up arrow several times to increase N1
Pick the curve and click the up arrow several times to increase N2
Click New PID
Click Mesh It and Accept
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 60 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Auto mesh an IGES file using Amesh...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > IGES File (select /workshop2/frame.igs)
Click Open in the IGES Read Options popup
Go to Mesh → Auto Mesher
Select Size
Enter Elem Size: 1.5
Click Visible in the General Select interface
Click Mesh
Click Accept
Turn off geometry (iges) rendering by clicking this icon
Click the Wireframe (mesh) render button
Workshop 2 (continued...)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 61 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 2 (continued...)
Create a hollow cylinder using the block mesher...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
Go to Mesh → Block Mesher
Select Type: Butterfly Blocks
Enter Length: 20
Enter L: 10
Activate Is Tubal
Enter Inner R: 4
Click Create
Rotate the model and note the synchronization between the main window and Computation Window
Highlight (by clicking and dragging over) the faces, lines, and vertices in the Computation Window to see how the 4 blocks are assembled to form the cylinder
Click Accept
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 62 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 2 (continued...)
Mesh a part using the solid mesher...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > STEP File (select /workshop2/knuckle.stp)
Go to Geometry Tool → Heal (to remove unnecessary vertices)
Select Vertex
Select Remove
Click Analysis (see figure)
Click Apply
Go to Geometry Tool → Simplify
Select Unfillet Face
Click in the Fillet Surfaces List box
Pick the small surfaces (see figure)
Click Apply
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 63 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 2 (continued...)
Mesh a part using the solid mesher...
Go to Reference Geometry → Plane
Select Method: Normal to Curve
Pick an edge and a vertex to define a trimming plane (see figure)
Click Apply
Repeat 3 times (to create a total of 4 trimming planes)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 64 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 2 (continued...)
Mesh a part using the solid mesher...
Go to Geometry Tool → Trim
Select Cut Solid
Click in the Trim Tool box
Pick a trim plane
Click in the Be Trimmed Solid box
Pick the solid part
Click Apply
Repeat 4 times (to trim the solid into a total of 6 parts)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 65 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 2 (continued...)
Mesh a part using the solid mesher...
Go to Geometry Tool → Heal (to remove duplicated faces)
Select Face
Click Analysis
Click Apply
Go to Geometry Tool → Stitch
Activate All Faces
Activate Non-manifold Mode
Deactivate Group by Part
Click Apply
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 66 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 2 (continued...)
Mesh a part using the solid mesher...
Right-click RefGeom under Assembly 1 in the feature tree (upper left corner of main window) and select Reverse Blank
Go to Mesh → Solid Mesher (to suppress unwanted boundaries)
Select Suppress
Pick unwanted boundary lines (see dashed lines in figure)
Select Meshing
Enter Elem Size: 1.2
Click Try Meshing Automatically
Click Accept
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 67 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Pre-Processing
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 68 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tool → Element Editing Purpose: modify an existing mesh by editing elements
Element Editing Tools • Check (quality)
• Create (beam, shell, tetra, penta, hexa, discrete)
• Delete
• Split / Merge
• Modify (thickness)
• Direction (change for orthotropic materials)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 69 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tool → Element Editing (Split/Merge)
Shell elements can be split into quads or tris
Constrain Adaptive button – If checked (*CONSTRAINED_ADAPTIVITY automatically created when splitting deformable elements)
Click edge of element for splitting into 2 elements, can be perpendicular or parallel to edge
Two quads can be merged into a single quad
Solid elements can also be split
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 70 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tool → Node Editing Purpose: modify an existing mesh by editing nodes
Node Editing Tools • Create – to create new nodes, use Advance button to
create nodes using different methods
• Delete – to delete unreferenced (no other element or entity attached to it)
• Replace – to replace one node with another node (merge) or take the center point of the 2 nodes
• Align – to align nodes that is close to a line formed by 2 points
• Modify (xyz coordinates)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 71 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tool → Node Editing (Align) Define line by picking two points
Select nodes that will be snapped to the line
Option to use Nodes or Point on Element
SpNdEQ – special option to put node in equal spacing when align to the line
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 72 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tool → Node Editing (Replace) Two nodes replacement
• Merge two nodes into one
• Option to choose final position of merged node (Node1, Node2, MidPoint)
• Single pick or area select
Multiple (Many) nodes replacement • Merge multiple nodes into one
• Option to choose final position of merged node (Center, Node, Position)
• General Selection interface used to select nodes
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 73 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tools → Normals Purpose: show/reverse/align element normal
Shell color indicates direction of normal
General Selection interface can be used to manually show or reverse normal vectors
Automatic alignment (Auto Reverse) can be performed by picking a “seed” element
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 74 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tools → Detach Purpose: detach elements from an existing mesh
Shell, Beam, Solid, Tshell – detach elements by type
Node – detach all elements connected to a node
Element – Select group of elements to be detached
Edge – Select edges of elements to be detached
Starting NID – Enter starting ID for new nodes
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 75 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tools → Duplicate Nodes show and merge duplicate (coincident) nodes
Tolerance is automatically calculated but can be overridden
Option to keep smaller or larger Node ID
Option to put new node at the xyz centroid of all merged nodes
Show Dup Nodes – will show all the nodes that meet the tolerance criterion
Select Nodes – allow user to select subset of nodes shown
Merge Dup Nodes – will perform the merging of the duplicated Nodes
Option to delete degenerated elements (elements with zero area)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 76 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tools → Measure Purpose: take measurements of various items
Item – list of available measurements • Coordinate – xyz coordinate
• Dist N2N – distance between 2 nodes
• Dist N2S – distance between a node and a surface
• Dist P2P – distance between 2 points
• Angle 3Node – angle between 3 nodes
• Angle 4node – angle between 2 lines formed by 4 nodes
• 3Pt Radius – the radius formed by 3 nodes
• Area / Volume / Mass / Inertia
• Ang Vel – angular velocity
• Separation – distance between two parts
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 77 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tools → Measure (continued...)
Active Elements Only – for certain quantities (e.g., Area, Volume, Mass, Inertia)
Element/Part/All – measure by element, by part, or all
Cancel pick – remove last picked entity
Apply – take measurement
Reference Axes – select current reference axes for measurement (define axis using Item: Create Axis)
History – depends on selected item
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 78 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 3 Pre-Processing
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 79 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 3 Merge duplicate nodes...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop3/badmesh.k)
Go to Element Tools → Duplicate Nodes and turn on the mesh (using the Mesh render button)
Activate Show Free Edges
Click Show Dup Nodes (see upper right figure)
Click Merge Dup Nodes
Click Accept
Enter Tolerance: 1.0
Click Show, Merge, and Accept
Replace nodes...
Go to Element Tool → Node Editing
Select Replace
Select Area and MidPoint
Zoom in the internal free edges area, select two nodes at a time for merging (by drawing a window)
Click Accept
Repeat until all internal free edges have been eliminated
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 80 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 3 (continued...)
Create a tria element...
Go to Element Tool → Element Editing
Select Create
Select Elem Type: Shell
Activate PID and pick the part
Activate Tria Only
Pick the 3 nodes to fill the final gap in the part
Click Accept
Align nodes along a line...
Go to Element Tool → Node Editing
Select Align
Click the Right render button
Click the Zoom In render button and zoom in as shown
Pick 2 nodes to form a line
Pick the nodes in between
Click Align
Click Accept
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 81 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 3 (continued...)
Split elements...
Go to Element Tool → Element Editing
Select Split/Merge
Pick the elements around the hole as shown
Click Apply
Click Accept
Fill a hole...
Go to Mesh → Element Generation
Select Shell
Select Shell By: Fill_Holes
Pick any node on the perimeter of the hole
Click Create
Click Accept
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 82 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 3 (continued...)
Align shell normals...
Go to Element Tools → Normals
Select Show Normals (should be already selected)
Click Visible in the General Selection interface
Select Vector Size: 0.5
Select Auto Reverse
Activate Pick Seed
Pick any element that is red
Click AutoRev
Click Done
Save the modified input file...
File > Save As > Save Keyword As...
Click Browse
Enter a file name (save as /workshop3/newmesh.k)
Click Save
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 83 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Pre-Processing (continued…)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 84 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Application → Model Checking Purpose: identify and clean unreferenced or undefined entities
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 85 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Display Entity Purpose: visualize model entities (keywords) other than
nodes and elements (which are displayed by default)
Available options include… • *BOUNDARY_{OPTION}
• *CONSTRAINED_{OPTION}
• *INITIAL_VELOCITY_{OPTION}
• *LOAD_{OPTION}
• *RIGIDWALL_{OPTION}
• *SET_{OPTION}
Use while post-processing by loading d3plots followed by the corresponding keyword file
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 86 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Reference Check (Attach) Purpose: identify entities that are attached to other
model entities
Initial attachment set can be all visible or as selected (using General Selection interface)
Attachment set can grow By Part or By Element
Final attachment set can be written to a file
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 87 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Renumber Purpose: renumber and offset model
entities
By Keyword – Entities can be renumbered/offset by Keyword • ID range can be specified
• Entities can be picked using the General Selection interface
By Part – Parts/Elements/Nodes can be renumbered/offset by Part
By Selected – Parts/Elements/Nodes can be renumbered/offset by Selected
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 88 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tools → Move/Copy Purpose: move or copy elements from one part to
another
Use General Selection interface to select elements
Target part can be a non-existent
Starting IDs for new elements and nodes can be specified when performing a copy
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 89 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tools → Offset Purpose: offset shells (always in normal direction)
Offset Distance – distance to offset
Element normals must be aligned before offsetting
Beware of offsetting small radii inward
Elements can be copied while offsetting
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 90 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tools→ Transform (Translate) Purpose: translate nodes/elements/parts
Translate Distance – distance to translate
X,Y,Z directions can be in global or local system
N1-N2 – translate in the direction from N1 to N2
N1-N2-N3 – translate in the direction normal to the plane formed by N1, N2, and N3
N1-to-N2 – translate using the distance and direction between N1 and N2
Pt-to-Pt – translate using the distance and direction between P1 and P2
Sh-Normal – pick a shell element and use its normal as the direction of the translation
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 91 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tools→ Transform (Translate) Free Edit – after distance, direction and node
selection, user can drag the selected nodes on screen
Copy Elem – copy elements while translating
Copy Node – copy nodes while translating
Transfer – transfer selection to copied elements
Multiple copies can be created
New elements can be placed in a new part ID
User can enter starting element ID for new elements
User can enter starting node ID for new nodes
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 92 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tools→ Transform (Rotate) Purpose: rotate nodes/elements/parts
Rot. Angle – angle to rotate in degree
X,Y,Z axes can be in global or local coordinates
N1-N2 – rotate about an axis from N1 to N2
N1-N2-N3 – rotate about the normal formed by N1, N2, and N3
Origin of rotation can be a node or XYZ location
Elements/Nodes can be copied while rotating
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 93 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tools→ Transform (Reflect) Purpose: reflect nodes/elements/parts
Norm X/Y/Z – reflect along global axes
N1-N2 – reflect along the direction from N1 to N2
N1-N2-N3 – reflect along the normal formed by N1, N2, and N3
Origin of reflection can be a node or an XYZ location
Elements/Nodes can be copied while reflecting
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 94 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tools→ Transform (Project) Purpose: project nodes and elements
Norm X/Y/Z – project along global axes
N1-N2 – project along the direction from N1 to N2
N1-N2-N3 – project along the normal formed by N1, N2, and N3
Can also project To Mesh, To Curve, or To Surface
Point on plane of projection can be a node or an XYZ location
Elements can be copied while projecting
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 95 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tools→ Transform (Scale) Purpose: scale nodes/elements/parts
Scale Factor – greater than 1 to enlarge, less than 1 to shrink (when using Scale+)
X,Y,Z – scale in either global or local coordinate system
N1-N2 – scale in direction from N1 to N2
N1-N2-N3 – scale in direction of normal formed by N1, N2, and N3
Origin can be a node or a XYZ location
Elements/Nodes can be copied while scaling
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 96 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tools→ Transform (Transform) Purpose: transform nodes/elements/parts from one
coordinate system to another
From – pick 3 nodes (first set of P1,P2,P3) to define a starting system
To – pick 3 nodes (second set of P1,P2,P3) to define a destination system
P1-P3 buttons launch Create Position interface
Elements can be copied while transforming
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 97 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tools → Smooth Purpose: smooth a mesh to improve element quality
Use General Selection interface to select elements
Specified nodes can be locked to prevent movement
Nodes along feature angles are not moved
Boundary nodes can be fixed or free
User specified number of smoothing iterations can be applied
Nodes can be projected back to geometry after smoothing
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 98 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element Tools → Part Trim Purpose: trim a mesh using a curve
Parts – first, choose the parts to be trimmed
Trim Curves – second, select curves for trimming
Trim Methods (projecting curves to mesh)... • Closest 3D projection
• Vector projection (along a specified vector)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 99 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 4 Mesh Transformation
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 100 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 4 Create nodes at circle centers...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop4/tube1.k)
Click the Wire render button
Go to Element Tool → Node Editing
Select Create
Click Advanced
Select 3PtCircle in the Create Position interface
At one end of the large tube, pick 3 nodes on the perimeter and click Apply
Repeat for the other end of the large tube and both ends of the small tube
Click Cancel in the Create Position interface
Click Accept
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 101 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 4 (continued...)
Transform a mesh...
Go to Element Tools → Transform
Select Transform
Activate From
Pick one center node of the small tube (as P1)
Pick the other center node of the small tube (as P2)
Pick any node on the end of the tube near P1 (as P3)
Activate To and repeat the same for the large tube (P1-P3 must be picked in a similar sequence)
Select ByPart in the General Selection interface
Pick the small tube
Click Save → To Buffer → Buffer5 in the General Selection interface
Click Transform
Click Accept
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 102 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 4 (continued...)
Translate a mesh...
Go to Element Tools → Transform
Select Translate
Select Direction: N1-N2
Pick both center nodes of the large tube (to define Node1 and Node2)
Enter Translate Distance: 20
Click Load → From Buffer → Buffer5 in the General Selection interface
Click Tran +
Click Accept
Click Done in the Transform interface
Save the modified input file...
File > Save As > Save Keyword As...
Click Browse
Enter a file name (save as /workshop4/newtube.k)
Click Save
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 103 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Pre-Processing (continued…)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 104 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Part Data There are 7 functions in the Part
Data dialog:
Show – show existing part data
Create – create new part data
Mod – modify existing data
Sear – search parts by parameters
Assign – assign part data properties
Prop – edit properties of part data
Replace – replace a part with another part
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 105 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Part Data Show – Show / Delete / Write
part data • Parts can be selected
graphically using Pick/Area/ Poly or from the list
• Show will list element type of the part, its properties, no. of nodes and elements, and the Min/Max IDs
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 106 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Part Data Cre – Create new part
definitions • NewID – take existing part data
and create a new part ID
• Add – create new part with no data (SECID, MID, etc...)
• Contact – if this box is check, will create *PART_CONTACT data
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 107 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Part Data
Mod – Modify existing part definitions • Changes can only be made
to one part at a time
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 108 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Part Data Assign – Assign properties
to parts • Changes can be made to
many parts at once
• Multiple select from list to highlight parts that will be changed
• Empty fields will not be assigned
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 109 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Part Data Prop – Review part properties
(Section, Material, Hourglass, …) • Modify – open a keyword input form
for editing
• RefBy – show all parts that reference the selected property
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 110 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
RefBy popup
dialog
Model → Part Data Replace – replace a part in one model
with another part from another model
The second model can be loaded with the “Load” button
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 111 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Replace this part with
another part that has
finer mesh
Model → Entity Interface A uniform interface to deal with LS-DYNA
entities that can be shown graphically
Show – to show the entities
Create – to create the entity
Modify – modify the existing entities
Delete – delete entites
Write entity data to a file
General selection is used whenever it is possible for selecting the entities
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 112 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Create Entity → Set Data Show *SET_{OPTION}
Create *SET_{OPTION} • OPTIONS – NODE, BEAM, DISCRETE, PART,
SEGMENT, SHELL, SOLID, THICK SHELL
• Select entities using General Selection interface
Modify *SET_{OPTION} • Sets must be shown before they can be modified
Delete *SET_{OPTION}
Write *SET_{OPTION} to a file
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 113 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Boundary → Spc Show *BOUNDARY_SPC_{OPTION}
• Label – None/Symbol/Detail
• Local coordinate systems will be shown if used
• Match – Filter by constrained DOFs
Create *BOUNDARY_SPC_{OPTION} • OPTIONS – NODE, NODE_SET
• Use General Selection interface to select nodes
• Activate constrained DOFs
• Use global or local coordinate system
Modify *BOUNDARY_SPC_{OPTION}
Delete *BOUNDARY_SPC_{OPTION}
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 114 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Initial → Velocity Show *INITIAL_VELOCITY
Create *INITIAL_VELOCITY • For *INITIAL_VELOCITY_NODE only
• Use General Selection interface to select nodes
Modify *INITIAL_VELOCITY
Delete *INITIAL_VELOCITY
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 115 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Rigidwall → Rigidwall Show *RIGIDWALL_{OPTION}
Create *RIGIDWALL_{OPTION} • OPTIONS – GEOMETRIC, PLANAR
• Select geometry type (cylinder/flat/prism/sphere)
• Activate additional planar options (finite/forces/moving/ortho)
• Define position and normal direction
Modify *RIGIDWALL_{OPTION}
Delete *RIGIDWALL_{OPTION}
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 116 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Database → Cross Section Show *DATABASE_CROSS_SECTION_{OPTION}
Create *DATABASE_CROSS_SECTION_{OPTION} • OPTIONS – PLANE, SET
• Define position and normal direction
Modify *DATABASE_CROSS_SECTION_{OPTION}
Delete *DATABASE_CROSS_SECTION_{OPTION}
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 117 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Database → History Show *DATABASE_HISTORY_{OPTION}
Create *DATABASE_HISTORY_{OPTION} • OPTIONS – NODES, BEAM, SHELL, SOLID, SPH, TSHELL
• Use General Selection interface to select entities
Modify *DATABASE_HISTORY_{OPTION}
Delete *DATABASE_HISTORY_{OPTION}
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 118 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Define → Box Show *DEFINE_BOX_{OPTION}
Create *DEFINE_BOX_{OPTION} • OPTIONS – ADAPITVE, COARSEN
• Define box extents
• Translate or scale box
Modify *DEFINE_BOX_{OPTION}
Delete *DEFINE_BOX_{OPTION}
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 119 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Define → Vector Show *DEFINE_VECTOR
Create *DEFINE_VECTOR • Define origin and direction
Modify *DEFINE_VECTOR
Delete *DEFINE_VECTOR
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 120 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Define → Coordinate System Show *DEFINE_COORINATE_{OPTION}
Create *DEFINE_COORINATE_{OPTION} • OPTIONS – NODES, SYSTEM, VECTOR
• Define title
• Pick nodes or define vectors
• Set additional parameters
• Modify an existing coordinate system
Modify *DEFINE_COORINATE_{OPTION}
Delete *DEFINE_COORINATE_{OPTION}
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 121 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element → Seatbelt Accelerometer Show *ELEMENT_SEATBELT_ACCELEROMETER
Create *ELEMENT_SEATBELT_ACCELEROMETER • Pick N1-N3
• Set other flags
Modify *ELEMENT_SEATBELT_ACCELEROMETER
Delete *ELEMENT_SEATBELT_ACCELEROMETER
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 122 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Element → Mass Show *ELEMENT_MASS
• Label – Mass Value/Mass ID/Detail/None
Create *ELEMENT_MASS • Use General Selection interface to select nodes
• Enter mass value
• Activate PID option
Modify *ELEMENT_MASS
Delete *ELEMENT_MASS
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 123 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Constrained → Spotweld Show *CONSTRAINED_SPOTWELD
Create *CONSTRAINED_SPOTWELD • Use Autocreate to create when N2 is picked
• Enter failure criteria
Modify *CONSTRAINED_SPOTWELD
Delete *CONSTRAINED_SPOTWELD
CDelete (check and delete) invalid spotwelds
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 124 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Constrained → Generalized Weld Spot Show *CONSTRAINED_GEN_WELD_SPOT
Create *CONSTRAINED_GEN_WELD_SPOT • Use General Selection interface to select nodes
• Click EditPara to define failure parameters
Modify *CONSTRAINED_GEN_WELD_SPOT
Delete *CONSTRAINED_GEN_WELD_SPOT
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 125 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Constrained → Tied Nodes Failure Show *CONSTRAINED_TIED_NODES_FAILURE
Create *CONSTRAINED_TIED_NODES_FAILURE • Use General Selection interface to select nodes
• Enter failure strain
Modify *CONSTRAINED_TIED_NODES_FAILURE
Delete *CONSTRAINED_TIED_NODES_FAILURE
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 126 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Constrained → Rivet Show *CONSTRAINED_RIVET
Create *CONSTRAINED_RIVET • Use Autocreate to create when N2 is picked
• Enter death (failure) time
Modify *CONSTRAINED_RIVET
Delete *CONSTRAINED_RIVET
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 127 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Constrained → Node Set Show *CONSTRAINED_NODE_SET
Create *CONSTRAINED_NODE_SET • Use General Selection interface to select nodes
• Set active DOF
• Enter death (failure) time
Modify *CONSTRAINED_NODE_SET
Delete *CONSTRAINED_NODE_SET
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 128 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Constrained → Nodal Rigid Body (CNRB) Show *CONSTRAINED_NODAL_RIGID_BODY
Create *CONSTRAINED_NODAL_RIGID_BODY • OPTION – SPC
• Use General Selection interface to select nodes
• Set additional flags
Modify *CONSTRAINED_NODAL_RIGID_BODY
Delete *CONSTRAINED_NODAL_RIGID_BODY
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 129 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
File → Import (Combine Keyword Files)
Each keyword file defines a subsystem
Import Offset causes all entity IDs to by automatically offset by largest ID currently in use
Import NoOffset performs no offsetting (use with caution)
Setting Offset allows custom offsetting based on keyword type (see next slide)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 130 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
File → Import (Combine Keyword Files)
Setting Offset interface
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 131 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Keyword Manager
All LS-DYNA keywords are accessible through Keyword Manager tree list (over 900 total)
Keywords that exist in the current model are shown in Blue
Click All to display all keywords (or click Model to display only those that exist in the current model)
Expand the tree and double-click to edit a keyword (opens Keyword Input Form)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 132 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Keyword Input Form
Example Keyword Input form for *PART
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 133
Keyword type List of existing keywords of this type
©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Keyword Input Form (continued...)
Keyword Input form buttons
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 134
Always click first when creating a new card Draw entity in the graphics window
Open interface to pick data directly from model
Create fresh keyword using default values
Commit changes
Delete/Undelete selected keyword
Set all entries to Default values
Exit keyword editing form
Popup RefBy interface
©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Keyword Input Form (continued...)
Keyword Input form controls
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 135
Card Number
Parameter Names
Parameter Values
Link Button
Drop-down Menu
©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Keyword Input Form (continued...)
Other Keyword Input form features
• Blue parameter titles can be clicked to display description in bottom text area (see below)
• Red parameters indicate that additional cards may be displayed depending on the parameter value
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 136
Click in any field above to display description here (same information found in LS-DYNA Keyword Manual)
User comments can be entered here
©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → MSelect→ Compare Purpose: compare two similar LS-DYNA keyword input
files that have minor differences
Disregards keyword order, unlike other compare/difference software
Normalizes data to ignore differences below a certain tolerance
Provides a summary only when a large number of differences are detected
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 137 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
File → Save Keyword As…
Output Version – 960/970/971 (only change if using an old version of LS-DYNA)
Renumber/Offset – can renumber or offset before saving
BySubSystem – activate to save subsystems to separate files (not visible unless model contains subsystems)
Advanced... – additional options (see next slide)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 138 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Advanced Settings Interface
Keyword order can be customized
Keywords can be selectively omitted
Title, Field Names, and Comments can be omitted
Parameter names can be output instead of actual values
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 139 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
File → Save Active Keyword As…
Output Version – 960/970/971 (only change if using an old version of LS-DYNA)
Keywords can be selectively output using the Advanced Setting interface
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 140 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 5 Create a Keyword File (Ball to Plate Impact)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 141 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 5 Mesh a plate from IGES data...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > IGES File (select /workshop5/plate.igs)
Click Open in the IGES Read Options popup
Go to Mesh → Auto Mesher
Enter Elem Size: 15
Pick the surface in graphics area
Click Mesh
Click Accept
Mesh a sphere...
Go to Mesh → Shape Mesher
Select Entity: Sphere_Solid
Enter Radius: 50
Enter Density: 6
Enter Center Z: 55
Enter Target Name: ball
Click Create and Accept
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 142 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 5 (continued...)
Define plate material...
Go to Model → Keyword Manager
Select All
Expand MAT
Double-click “024-PIECEWISE_LINEAR_PLASTICITY”
Click NewID in the Keyword Input Form
Enter TITLE: plate material
Enter RO: 7.8e-6
Enter E: 200.0
Enter PR: 0.3
Enter SIGY: 0.2
Enter ETAN: 2.0
Enter FAIIL: 0.1
Click Accept
Click Done
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 143 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 5 (continued...)
Define plate section...
Expand SECTION
Double-click “SHELL”
Click NewID in the Keyword Input Form
Enter TITLE: plate section
Enter NIP: 5
Enter T1: 1.5 (and hit the Enter key)
Click Accept
Click Done
Import ball properties (material and section)...
File > Import > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop5/ball_properties.k)
Click Import Offset in the Import File interface
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 144 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 5 (continued...)
Assign plate properties...
Go to Model → Part Data
Select Mod
Select “S 1 SHELL1” from the list
Enter Part Title: plate
Click SECID
Select “1 plate section” in Link SECTION interface
Click Done in Link SECTION interface
Click MID
Select “1 plate material” in Link MAT interface
Click Done in Link MAT interface
Click Accept
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 145 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 5 (continued...)
Assign ball properties...
Go to Model → Keyword Manager
Expand PART
Double-click “PART”
Select “2 ball” in the Keyword Input Form
Click the Link Button next to the SECID field
Select “2 ball section” in Link SECTION interface
Click Done in the Link SECTION interface
Click the Link Button next to the MID field
Select “2 ball material” in Link MAT interface
Click Done in the Link MAT interface
Click Accept
Click Done
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 146 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 5 (continued...)
Create plate boundary SPCs...
Go to Model → Create Entity
Expand Boundary
Select Spc
Select Cre
Create Set
Activate X, Y, and Z
Click the Top render button
Select Area in the General Selection interface
Click and drag to select all plate edge nodes (select nodes on each edge separately)
Click Apply
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 147 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 5 (continued...)
Create ball initial velocity...
Expand Initial
Select Velocity
Select Cre
Enter Vz: -20
Select Pick in the General Selection interface
Select ByPart in the General Selection interface
Click the Left render button
Pick the ball
Click Apply
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 148 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 5 (continued...)
Create part set for contact...
Expand Set Data
Select *SET_PART
Select Cre
Enter Title: contact
Click Visible in the General Selection interface
Click Apply
Define contact...
Go to Model → Keyword Manager
Select All then expand CONTACT
Double-click “AUTOMATIC_SINGLE_SURFACE”
Click NewID in the Keyword Input Form
Set SSTYP: 2
Click the Link Button next to the SSID field
Select “1 contact” in the Link SET interface
Click Done in the Link SET interface
Click Accept
Click Done
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 149 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 5 (continued...)
Set termination time...
Expand CONTROL
Double-click “TERMINATION”
Enter ENDTIM: 10 in the Keyword Input Form
Click Accept
Click Done
Set d3plot frequency...
Expand DATABASE
Double-click “BINARY_D3PLOT”
Enter DT: 1 in the Keyword Input Form
Click Accept
Click Done
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 150 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 5 (continued...)
Set ASCII output frequency...
Expand DATABASE
Double-click “ASCII_option”
Enter Default DT: 0.1 (and hit the Enter key)
Scroll down and activate GLSTAT (global statistics)
Set BINARY: 3 for GLSTAT
Activate MATSUM (material summary)
Click Accept
Click Done
Save keyword file...
File > Save As > Save Keyword As...
Deactivate “BySubSystem”
Click Browse (save as /workshop5/ball_and_plate.k) then Save
Click Advanced…
Click customize order: Expert
Click Ok in the Advanced Setting interface
Click Save in the Save Keyword interface
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 151 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 5 (continued...)
Compare a set of LS-DYNA Keyword files...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop5/compare/belted1.k)
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop5/compare/belted2.k)
Go to Model → MSelect
Select Compare
Click in the 1st Model field and select model 1
Click in the 2nd Model field and select model 2
Click Compare
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 152 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 5 (continued...)
Compare a set of LS-DYNA Keyword files...
Select the Common Keywords tab
Examine the RED items to identify differences
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 153 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 6 Create a Keyword File
(S-Rail to Rigidwall Impact)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 154 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 6 Import and mesh IGES surfaces...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > IGES File (select /workshop6/channel.igs)
Click Open in the IGES Read Options popup
Go to Mesh → Auto Mesher
Enter Elem Size: 6
Click Visible in the General Selection interface
Click Mesh
Click Accept
Go to Geometry Tool → Manage
Click Visible in the General Selection interface
Click Delete in the Geometry Management interface
File > Import > IGES File (select /workshop6/flat.igs)
Click Open in the IGES Read Options popup
Go to Mesh → Auto Mesher
Click Visible in the General Selection interface
Click Mesh
Click Accept
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 155 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 6 Define section property...
Go to Model → Keyword Manager
Select All
Expand SECTION
Double-click “SHELL”
Click NewID in the Keyword Input Form
Enter TITLE: 1.0mm
Enter ELFORM: 16
Enter T1: 1.0 (and hit the Enter key)
Click Accept
Click Done
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 156 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 6 (continued...)
Define material property...
Expand MAT
Double-click “024-PIECEWISE_LINEAR_PLASTICITY”
Click NewID in the Keyword Input Form
Enter TITLE: Mild Steel
Enter RO: 7.83e-6
Enter E: 207.0
Enter PR: 0.3
Enter SIGY: 0.2
Enter ETAN: 2.0
Click Accept
Click Done
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 157 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 6 (continued...)
Assign section and material...
Go to Model → Part Data
Select Assign
Click All
Click SECID
Select “1.0mm” in the Link SECTION interface
Click Done in Link SECTION interface
Click MID
Select “Mild Steel” in the Link MAT interface
Click Done in Link MAT interface
Click Apply
Select Show
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 158 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 6 (continued...)
Add mass to end of rail...
Click the Top render button
Click the ZoIn render button and zoom in on the right end of the rail
Go to Model → Create Entity
Expand Element
Select Mass
Select Cre
Enter Mass: 2.0
Select Area in the General Selection interface
Click and drag to select 1 row of nodes along the end of the rail
Click Apply
Create constraints at end of rail...
Expand Boundary
Select Spc
Select Cre
Activate Y, Z, RX, RY, and RZ (everything except X)
Select Area in the General Selection interface
Click and drag to select all nodes where masses were added
Click Apply
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 159 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 6 (continued...)
Create initial velocities at end of rail...
Expand Initial
Select Velocity
Select Cre
Enter Vx: -10.0
Select Area in the General Selection interface
Select all nodes where SPCs were added
Click Apply
Create a rigid wall...
Expand Rigidwall
Select Rigidwall
Select Cre
Select Planar
Select NX (you may have to scroll down)
Pick any node at the left end of the rail
Select Tran
Select X/L and enter Distance: 10
Click Tran -
Click Apply
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 160 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 6 (continued...)
Create welds using a master weld file...
Go to Mesh → Spot Welding
Select Format: Primer (from the drop-down menu)
Click Open (select /workshop6/welds.spot)
Click Open in the Read Options popup
Select Properties: File
Click Browse (select /workshop6/spot.conf)
Click Open in the Read Options popup
Click Create
Click the Wire render button to see weld locations
Click Accept
Set termination time...
Go to Model → Keyword Manager
Expand CONTROL
Double-click “TERMINATION”
Enter ENDTIM: 10 in Keyword Input Form
Click Accept
Click Done
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 161 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 6 (continued...)
Set d3plot frequency...
Expand DATABASE
Double-click “BINARY_D3PLOT”
Enter DT: 1 in Keyword Input Form
Click Accept and Done
Set ASCII output frequency...
Double-click “ ASCII_option”
Enter Default DT: 0.1 (and hit the Enter key)
Activate GLSTAT
Activate MATSUM
Activate SWFORC (spotweld forces)
Click Accept and Done
Save keyword file...
File > Save As > Save Keyword As...
Click Browse (save as /workshop6/srail.k)
Click Save in the Save Keyword interface
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 162 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Post-Processing
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 163 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Animation Interface
The Animation controls are displayed when d3plots are loaded. If the animation interface is closed, it can be restored by clicking the Anim render button.
LS-PrePost Intro | November , 2012 164
Initial State
Final State States per Increment
Loop / Play Once Current Time
Current State
Control Speed
Control State
Activate Eigen Mode Animation
©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Eigen SF
Post → Fringe Component Purpose: to select a component for fringing
Stress – regular stress components
Ndv – nodal displacements and velocities
Result – resultant stress components
Strain – regular strain components
Misc – pressure, temp, shell thickness, etc...
Infin / Green / Almans – infinitesimal, Green-St. Venant, and Almansi strains
S.Rate – strain rates
Residu – residual elastic strains
FLD – forming limit diagram strain components
Beam – beam element forces and stress resultants
CFD – Navier-Stokes fluid components
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 165 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Post → Fringe Component (continued...)
Frin – choose rendering type • Frin – default fringing
• Isos – iso-surfaces for solid
• Lcon – line contours
• XFrn – fringe max value through all states
• FMes – fringe color on the mesh
• Expr – user define expression
Max – location of shell surfaces • Low / Mid / Upp – lower, mid-plane, and upper
• Max / Ave / Min – maximum, average, minimum
• Ipt – shell integration point
• Bpt – beam integration point
Glob – coordinate system • Glob / Loca – global or local
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 166 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Post → Fringe Range Purpose: control fringe and iso-surface ranges
Dynamic – min/max adjusted for each time state
Static – same min/max for all the states
User – custom min/max for all the states
Show – show elements within the specified range
Entire Model – legend based on entire model
Active Parts Only – legend based on displayed parts
Active Elements Only – legend based on displayed elements only
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 167 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Post → Fringe Range (continued...)
Reverse Colors – reverse legend colors
Ident Min / Max – identify min and max elements by ID (user defines number of entities to identify)
Lower / Upper – set color for out-of-range elements
Levels – customize number of fringe levels
Palette – allows colors to be modified
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 168 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Post → History Purpose: plot time history data (from d3plots)
Global – energies and kinematic data for full model
Part – energies and kinematic data for parts
Nodal – kinematic data for nodes
Element – stress and strain data for elements • Value – set to element value or min/max value for the part
• E-Type – choose element type to plot history
• E-Axes – global or local
• Surface – choose shell location (through-thickness)
Int Pt – integration point data
Scalar – plot scalar value that is being fringed (choose component in Fcomp interface)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 169 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Post → History (continued...)
Standard plotting options... • Plot – plot selected value in current Plot Window
• New – plot selected value in new Plot Window
• Padd – add selected value to current Plot Window
• Raise – bring forward all open plot windows
• Pop – open and bring forward all closed plot windows
Interfaces that use these plot functions... • History
• XYPlot
• ASCII
• Binout
• FLD
• Measure
• Section > Force
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 170 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Plot Window Title – modify main, axis, legend, and curve titles
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 171 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Plot Window (continued...)
Title – used to modify main, axis, legend, and curve titles
Attr – modify curve attributes (symbol, color, width, style)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 172 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Plot Window (continued...)
Filter – filter curves (SAE, Butterworth, COS, etc...)
Save – write curves to file (.crv, Keep, XY Pairs, .csv, .xml)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 173 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Plot Window (continued...)
Oper – perform curve operations (integrate, sum, invert, etc...)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 174 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
New Plot Interface New XYPlot
interface puts plots in the Main window
Multiple plots on a page / multiple pages
Plots from one port can be easily moved or copied to another port
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 175 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
New Plot Interface (continued...)
Right-click on a Port to Delete it or launch the Control interface
Control interface allows plots to be customized
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 176 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
New Plot Interface (continued...)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 177 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Post → XYPlot Purpose: create and manipulate XY-Plots (all saved XY
data is automatically added to the file list)
File – show list of all loaded XY-Plot files
Window – show list of all XY-Plot windows
Add – import XY data (use CRV, CSV, XY formats)
Remove – remove files from list
Info – display number of data points
Show – show selected plot
Cross – create cross plot (e.g., combine Force/Time and Disp/Time to create Force/Disp)
Curve Clip – clip curve
Interpolate – modify number of points in curve
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 178 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Post → ASCII Purpose: create XY-Plots from ASCII output files
ASCII File Operations... • File – browse and load ASCII file from any directory
• Load – load selected file type from current directory
• Unload – unload files from memory
• All – select all items in the list
• Clear – clear selected items
• Rev – reverse selection
• Info – show information on the loaded ASCII file
• Multiple Select – plot multiple curves at once when multiple files are loaded (using File option above)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 179 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Post → ASCII (continued...)
ASCII Sub-branches... • Lists all data available in the selected ASCII file
• Some ASCII files have special toggles that can be used to process data...
MATSUM, SECFORC, SPCFORC, NODFOR, BNDOUT, SLEOUT, and GCEOUT – [Total] combine multiple ASCII item selections
ABSTAT – [Airb/Mat] select airbag/material ID
ELOUT – [Clrcp] clear component list
ELOUT – [Stress/Strain/Beams]
DEFORC – [Trans/Rotat] force and moments
NODFOR – [Group] combine nodal forces of the group
NODOUT – [HicCsi] open HIC/CSI pre-filter options
RBDOUT – [Local] plot in local coordinate system
SPCFORC – [Force/Momt] force and moments
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 180 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Post → Binout Purpose: plot data from binout files
Binout contains same data as ASCII files but in binary format
Set BINARY=2 on *DATABASE_{OPTION} to generate binout file
Load – load binout file (multiple binout files can be loaded)
Unload – unload binout file
Save – save binout branch in ASCII format
Done – exit the Binout interface
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 181 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Post → Follow Purpose: define a reference point or plane for
animation and fringing relative displacement
Animation usage... • Pick node(s) to define reference point or plane
• Click Apply
• Play animation
To fringe relative displacement... • Pick node(s) to define reference point or plane
• Click Apply
• Go to Page 1: Fcomp
• Select Ndv
• Select “rx-disp”, “ry-disp”, “rz-disp”, or “r-result disp”
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 182 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Post → Trace Purpose: trace nodal displacements
Use General Selection interface to select nodes
Set width and color of trace line
Select state to begin trace
Output trace in several formats... • *DEFINE_CURVE
• Coordinate history
• *BOUNDARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION_NODE
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 183 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Post → State Purpose: select/overlay animation states or display
mulitple states in a grid
Select – display the selected state or create state overlays (with customized rendering type)
Inactive – make states inactive (remove from animation playback)
Delete – delete states (delete d3plot files if possible)
Multistate – display multiple states in a grid
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 184 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Post → Output Purpose: output post-processing data
Some available formats... • LS-DYNA Keyword
• Nastran
• Dynain ASCII
• ASCII and Binary STL
Active Parts Only – write only displayed parts
Entire Model – write entire model (use check boxes to control exactly which entities are written)
St No – Controls which state is written
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 185 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Post → Setting Purpose: control settings and general preferences
Axes/Surface • El Axes – set coordinate system for calculation of
component stresses and strains (Global / element Local)
• Surface – set current shell integration point surface and beam integration point location (this affects what data is extracted when using Fcomp, History, and Vector)
Reflections – reflect the whole model or selected parts about the global planes
Hic/Csi Const. – change default time scale and gravitational constant
SPH Nodes – change appearance of smooth particle hydrodynamics nodes
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 186 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Post → Setting (continued...)
Thickness Scale Factor – related to displaying shells as solids (set using Thick in Appear interface)
Fringe Scale Factor – allows small or large changes in fringe values, active for all fringes after setting
Concrete Crack Width – associated with D3CRCK file, sets minimum crack width in mm to be displayed (MAT_084 only)
FLD E’Strain – changes display of strains for FLD fringe components and plots to Engr or True values
Local B’Strain – converts global strains for solid elements into element axes values
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 187 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Post → Vector Purpose: create vector plots (similar to fringing)
d3plot (binary plot) options... • Shell Normal
• Displacement
• Velocity
• Principal Stress
• Principle Strain
intfor (interface force file) options... • Force
• Pressure
• Surface Shear
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 188 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Post → Vector (continued...)
X, Y, and Z components for displacement, velocity and force can be selected
Range settings... • Dynamic – min/max adjusted for each time state
• Static – same min/max for all the states
• User – custom min/max for all the states
• Show – show vectors within the specified range
Display settings... • SF – set vector size scale factor
• Whole – display vectors for the whole model
• Part – display vectors for a specific part
• Area – display vectors for a user defined area
• El/Node – display vectors for specific elements/nodes
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 189 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Section Plane Purpose: visualize section planes or take measurements
Section plane options... • FixS – section plane is fixed in space
• FixM – section plane is fixed to the model
• Lagr – section plane is lagrangian type
Plane definition options... • 1p+NL – base point + normal direction
• N1-N2 – n1 defines base point, n1 to n2 defines direction
• 3Nds – 3 nodes define the plane
• 2Nds+D – 2 nodes + direction define the plane
• BasePt/BaseNd – select position or node as base point
• NormX/NormY/NormZ – set direction cosines
• Centroid – make centroid of model the base point
• Reset – reset and clear plane definition
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 190 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Section Plane (continued...)
Additional options... • No. of Cut/Distance - divide model along the plane normal
direction
• Right/Left Arrows – move the plane forward/backward
• MP Anim – animate the section
• Upd Bspt – update base point with current position
• Clear Kpsc – clear all kept section cuts from memory
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 191 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Section Plane (continued...)
Additional options... • Project View – view section normal to section plane
• Off/Clip – turn clipping planes off/on
• Kp Cuts – keep and display all section cuts
• Clr – clear all section cuts (keep only the last cut)
• Cut – perform section cut
• Options – display additional section plane options
• Crush – open crush/intrusion interface
• Model – reset display to full model view
• Meas – open section cut measurement interface
• Line – open line plot interface
• Force – open section force interface
• Save – open interface to save/load planes (to file)
• Done – exit the Section Plane interface
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 192 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Section Plane (continued...)
“Options” Interface • ShowPl – show section plane on/off
• 3DOutline – show solid part outline after cut
• ShMesh – show section plane as mesh
• Line Width – set section cut line width
• Line Color – set section cut line color
• Color/Cut – use different color for each cut instead of different color for each part
• Thickness – draw section cut with thickness
• VP – draw vector on section cut
• Write – write section cut to file in selected format (Keyword, VGA, or IGES)
• Curr State – set current state for writing
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 193 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Section Plane (continued...)
“Crush” Interface – measure distance from node to plane (intrusion plotting) • Line Width – Intrusion plot line width
• Line Color – Intrusion plot line color
• PlotType – select history plot type
• Node ID – can be picked or keyed in
“Line” Interface – plot fringe values at section cut along the length of the cut • Mainly used for metal stamping
• Must load fringe value (using Fcomp) and perform cut first
• Pick a part for the line plot
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 194 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Model → Section Plane (continued...)
“Force” Interface – calculate and plot section values • Forces
• Moments
• Area
• Centroid
“Meas” Interface – take section plane measurements • Coordinate
• Distance
• 3Pt-Angle
• 3Pt-Radius
• 2Ln-Angle
• Measure can be done between any two cuts
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 195 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 7 Post-Processing
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 196 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 7 Load results and input file...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Binary Plot (select /workshop7/d3plot)
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop7/ball_and_plate.k)
Click Yes in the popup
Click the Left render button
Click Animate Forward (click the Anim render button first if necessary)
Decrease the animation speed using the slider
Generate a movie...
File > Movie…
Select Format : JPEG
Enter File Name: animation1
Click Start
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 197 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 7(continued...)
Cut a section plane...
Go to Model → Section Plane
Click NormY
Click Cut
Click Options
Select Line Width: 5
Rotate the model for an isometric view
Click Animate Forward
Click MP Anim
Click Done
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 198 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 7(continued...)
Create a fringe contour plots...
Go to Post → Fringe Component
Click Stress
Select “von mises stress” from the list
Click the Top render button
Click Animate Forward (if the animation is not already playing)
Select “plastic strain” from the list
Click Ndv
Select “resultant displacement” from the list
Click Stop Animation
Click the Shade Element (ShaEle) render button
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 199 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 7(continued...)
Identify nodes and elements by ID...
Go to Element Tools → Ident
Select Node
Select Area in the General Selection interface
Pick some nodes by drawing a window
Select Element
Select Pick in the General Selection interface
Pick some elements by clicking
Click Clear Node
Click Clear Elem
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 200 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 7(continued...)
Plot time history data...
Go to Post → History
Select Nodal
Select “Z-displacement” from the list
Pick 1 node on the ball and 1 node on the plate
Click Plot
Click Quit in the Plot Window
Select Element
Select “Effective Stress (v-m)” from the list
Pick an element on the plate
Click Plot
Click Quit in the Plot Window
Click the Clear render button
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 201 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 7(continued...)
Plot ASCII data...
Go to Post → ASCII
Select “glstat *” from the top list
Click Load
Select the top 3 items in the bottom list
Click Plot
Click Quit in the Plot Window
Select “matsum *” from the top list
Click Load
Click All
Select “2-Kinetic Energy” from the bottom list
Click Plot
Click Quit in the Plot Window
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 202 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 7(continued...)
Plot a measured value...
Drag the horizontal slider to the first frame (click the Anim render button first if necessary)
Turn on the mesh (using the Mesh render button)
Go to Element Tools → Measure
Select Item: Dist N2N
Select “length” in the bottom list
Pick 1 node on the ball and 1 node on the plate
Click Plot
Click Quit in the Plot Window
Click Next State (in the animation interface) several times and note how the measured value is updated
Click the Clear render button
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 203 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 7(continued...)
Plot binout data...
Go to Post → Binout
Click Load (select /workshop7/binout)
Select the file from the Open File List
Select “glstat”
Select “kinetic_energy”
Click Plot
Select “internal_energy”
Click Padd
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 204 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 7(continued...)
Format a plot...
Click Title in the Plot Window
Enter Plot Title: Global Stats
Enter X-Axis Label: Time (ms)
Enter Y-Axis Label: Energy
Enter Legend Title: Curves
Click Apply
Activate Modify Curve Legend
Select “kinetic_energy” from the list
Change name to “Kinetic” (and hit the Enter key)
Select “internal_energy” from the list
Change name to “Internal” (and hit the Enter key)
Save curve data...
Click Save in the Plot Window
Click All next to the curve list
Enter Filename : glstat_energy.crv
Click Save in the bottom row of buttons
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 205 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 8 Post-Processing
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 206 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 8 View multiple models...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Binary Plot (select /workshop8/example2/d3plot)
File > Open > LS-DYNA Binary Plot (select /workshop8/elastic_plate/d3plot)
Go to Model → MSelect
Click the Left render button
Select Translate
Select “2-BALL AND ELSTIC PLATE” from the list
Activate Z only
Enter Trans Dist: 2.500e+002
Click the Left Arrow button
Select Select
Click and drag to select both items in the list
Click the Auto Center (AutCen) render button
Click the Hide Element (HidEle) render button
Click Animate Forward
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 207 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 8 (continued...)
Create a cross plot...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Binary Plot (select /workshop8/elastic_plate/d3plot)
Go to Post → ASCII
Select “rcforc *”
Click Load
Select “Sl-2” from the middle list
Select “Z-force” from the lower list
Click Plot
Click Scale in PlotWindow-1
Enter Y-scale: -1
Click Apply
Activate Autofit
Click Save enter Filename: force_vs_time.crv
Click Save in the bottom row of buttons
Click Quit in PlotWindow-1
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 208 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 8 (continued...)
Create a cross plot (continued)...
Go to Post → XYPlot
Click Add (select /workshop8/elastic_plate/disp_vs_time.crv)
Select Cross
Select X-Axis
Select “disp_vs_time.crv”
Double-click “disp_vs_time.crv:2060”
Select Y-Axis
Select “force_vs_time.crv”
Double-click “force_vs_time.crv:Sl 2”
Click Plot
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 209 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 8 (continued...)
Set a reference point...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Binary Plot (select /workshop8/belted/d3plot)
Click the Left and Hide Element (HidEle) render buttons
Click Animate Forward
Click Stop
Go to Post → Follow
Pick any node on the structure
Click Apply
Click Done (in the Follow interface)
Click Animate Forward
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 210 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 8 (continued...)
Use Page D entity display...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Binary Plot (select /workshop8/belted/d3plot)
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop8/belted/belted.k)
Click Yes in the popup
Click the Right render button
Go to Model → Display Entity
Expand Element
Select Seatbelt_Accelerometer
Select the first three items in the list
Click the Anim render button
Click Animate Forward
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 211 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 8 (continued...)
Calculate HIC (Head Injury Criteria)...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Binary Plot (select /workshop8/settings_and_hic/d3plot)
Click the Left render button
Go to Post → Setting
Select Hic/Csi Constants
Select Time Units: msec (kg-mm-ms units)
Select Gravity Constant: 0.00981
Click Apply
Go to Post → ASCII
Select “nodout *”
Click Load
Select “1” ” from the middle list
Select “14-hic36” ” from the lower list
Click HicCsi
Activate Apply pre-filter
Click Plot
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 212 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 8 (continued...)
Modify range settings...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Binary Plot (select /workshop8/range/d3plot)
Click the Left render button
Drag the slider to the last frame
Go to Post → Fringe Component (FriComp)
Select “von mises stress” from the top list
Go to Post → Fringe Range (FriRang)
Select Avg: None
Activate Reverse Colors
Activate Ident Min and Max
Enter No. Min/Max Entities: 1
Select Level: 20
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 213 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 8 (continued...)
View velocity vectors...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Binary Plot (select /workshop8/settings_and_hic/d3plot)
Click the Left render button
Go to Post → Vector
Select Velocity from the drop down menu
Click Apply
Click Next State (in the animation interface) to step through the animation frame by frame
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 214 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 8 (continued...)
Colors, Groups, and Views...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Binary Plot (select /workshop8/settings_and_hic/d3plot)
Click the Left render button
Go to Model → Part Color
Click Lmap (select /workshop8/colors_groups_views/colors)
Go to Model → Groups
Click Load (select /workshop8/colors_groups_views/groups)
Select “dummy” from the list
Click Select
Go to Model → Views
Click Load (select /workshop8/colors_groups_views/views)
Select “View_01” from the list
Click Select
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 215 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 8 (continued...)
Plot section plane forces...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Binary Plot (select /workshop8/splane/csforce/d3plot)
Go To Model → Section Plane
Activate BaseNd
Enter Node: 1550 (and hit Enter)
Click NormX (directional cosine)
Click Cut
Click Force
Select “Normal Force” from the list
Click Plot
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 216 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 8 (continued...)
Take section plane measurements...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Binary Plot (select /workshop8/splane/measure/d3plot)
Click the Right render button
Go to Model → Section Plane
Click NormY
Click Cut
In the animation controls, advance to State# 9
Click Meas (NOT Measur)
Select 2Ln-Angle
Click two points to form a line on the left top
Click two points to form a line on the right top
Click Options
Select Line Width: 2
Activate ShMesh (section plane as a mesh)
Click Curr State
Click Write to save the section data (writes keyword file with beam elements only)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 217 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 8 (continued...)
Output dynain file...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Binary Plot (select /workshop8/dynain_output/d3plot)
Go to Post → Output
Select Format: Dynain ASCII
In the animation controls, advance to the last state
Click Curr (current state)
Click Write (writes a dynain ASCII file that contains stress, strain, and thickness information)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 218 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 8 (continued...)
Save LS-PrePost database (post.db)...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Binary Plot (select /workshop8/dynain_output/d3plot)
In the animation controls, advance to the desired state
File > Save As > Save Post.db As…
In the main window, go to Model → Assembly and Part (SelPart)
Select “S 2” and “S 3” only
Go to Element Tools → Blank
Select Area in the General Selection interface
Select Out
Draw a box around a portion of the model
In the Save PostProcess DB interface, select the data you want
Click >>
Enter a file name (select /workshop8/dynain_output/post.db)
Click Write DB
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 219 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Command File and Macros
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 220 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Command File
All commands are written to lspost.cfile
• Created in same directory as input file
• Can be modified to help automate repetitive tasks
• Call other command files using “include” statements
• Skip commands using “skip” and “endskip”
• Enter interactive mode using “interactive” (us Esc key to continue)
3 ways to execute command files: • File > Open > Command File
• lsprepost c=commandfile.ses
• lsprepost c=commandfile.ses –nographics
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 221 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Command File (continued...)
Parameters can be used in command file
• Parameter definition can be numbers or strings
parameter directory “c:\Home\Test\problem\”
parameter rotang “45.0, 0.0, 30.0”
parameter filename “testcase1.key”
• Use “&” to mark parameters
open d3plot &filename
• Use “{“ and “}” when combining parameters
open d3plot &{directory}&{filename}
Command file structure is not yet fully documented, but more commands and details can be found here: • http://www.lstc.com/lspp/content/other/command/command.shtml
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 222 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Misc. → Macro Interface Purpose: load and execute macros
Macros allow multiple commands to be grouped and executed as often as desired
Parameters can be used in macro files
Parameters can be defined on the fly (see “matid” and “fname”)
Macro syntax... • *macro begin name
Command 1
Command 2
Command 3
• *macro end
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 223 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Misc. → Macro Interface (continued...)
Macro example... • *macro begin plot_matsum
ascii matsum plot 2 &matid
raisewin
xyplot 1 savefile curve_file C:\temp\&fname 1 all
• *macro end
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 224 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Function Keys
F1 launches Function Key interface shown below (shows layout of the function keys)
Except for F1 and F10, all other function keys can be programmed to act as a button
Also, a command file with the name F#.cfile can be called using F# (place file in current working directory)
Function keys can be customized in the configuration file (lsppconf)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 225 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 9 Command File and Macros
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 226 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 9 Run a command file...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop9/C2500D-V4f_rotated.k)
File > Open > Command File (select /workshop9/free_edges.ses)
Click Start in the CFile interface (the session file contains “interactive” commands and thus waits for a user input to perform the next action)
Hit the Esc key to cycle through the parts checking each for free edges or click the “Stop” button in the CFile interface
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 227 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 9 (continued...)
Use a macro to create two solid spheres...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
Go to Misc. → Launch Macro Interface
Click Add (select /workshop9/sphere.txt)
Select “Sphere1” from the list
Click Show
Click Exec (a red sphere is created)
Select “Sphere2” from the list
Enter x: 10
Enter y: 10
Enter z: 10
Enter radius: 6
Enter density: 8
Click Exec (a blue sphere is created)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 228 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 Extra Pre-Processing Exercises
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 229 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 Create a 4-node shell mesh...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
Go to Mesh → Shape Mesher
Select Entity: 4N_Shell
Enter P1: 100,100,0
Enter P2: 100,-100,0
Enter P3: -100,-100,0
Enter P4: -100,100,0
Enter NxNo.: 10
Enter NyNo.: 10
Enter Target Name: plate
Click Create
Click Accept
Turn on the mesh (using the Mesh render button)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 230 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Detach elements...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop11/4n-shell.k)
Turn on the mesh (using the Mesh render button)
Go to Element Tools → Detach Element
Active Free Edges
Select Area in the General Selection interface
Draw a box to select some elements
Click Detach
Click Accept
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 231 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Create shells using Element Generation...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop11/sphere.k)
Turn on the mesh (using the Mesh render button)
Rotate the model for an isometric view
Go to Mesh → Element Generation
Select Shell
Select Shell By: Solid_Face
Select ByElem
Activate Prop
Set Ang: 45.0
Pick an element on the curved outer surface
Click Create
Click Accept
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 232 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Create solids using Element Generation (continued)...
Go to Model → Assembly and Part (SelPart)
Select “S 2” only
Go to Mesh → Element Generation
Select Solid
Select Solid By: Shell_Offset
Enter Thickness: 5
Enter Segment: 1
Select ByPart in the General Selection interface
Click on the shell layer
Click Create
Click Accept
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 233 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Delete elements...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop11/4n-shell.k)
Turn on the mesh (using the Mesh render button)
Go to Element Tool → Element Editing
Select Delete
Select Area in the General Selection interface
Select the center 4x4 section of elements
Select Rm in the General Selection interface
Select the center 2x2 section of elements
Click Delete
Click Accept
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 234 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Split elements (continued)...
Select Split/Merge in the Element Editing interface
Select Add in the General Selection interface
Select the center 2x2 section of elements
Click Apply
Click Accept
Create elements...
Select Create in the Element Editing interface
Select Element Type: Shell
Activate PID
Pick the part
Pick 4 nodes to create a quad element in the gap
Click Accept
Continue creating 4-node quads (leaving empty wedges as necessary)
Activate Tria Only
Fill in the remaining wedges with 3-node tria elements
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 235 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Create nodes...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop11/node_edit.k)
Turn on the mesh (using the Mesh render button)
Go to Element Tool → Node Editing
Select Create
Select ByTwo
Enter Num: 3
Pick node 14
Pick node 49
Click Create
Click Accept
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 236 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Align nodes (continued)...
Select Align
Pick node 11
Pick node 46
Select Area in the General Selection interface
Draw a window to select nodes 21, 30, and 39
Click Align
Click Accept
Replace nodes...
Select Replace
Select MidPoint
Pick nodes 18 and 19
Pick nodes 27 and 28
Pick nodes 36 and 37
Click Accept
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 237 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Reflect elements...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop11/star.k)
Turn on the mesh (using the Mesh render button)
Go to Element Tools → Transform
Select Reflect
Select Plane: Norm Y
Activate Pick origin
Pick the top node
Activate Copy Elem
Enter 2 next to Pick Part
Click Visible in the General Selection interface
Click Reflect
Click Accept
Click the Auto Center (AutCen) render button
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 238 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Translate elements...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop11/star.k)
Turn on the mesh (using the Mesh render button)
Go to Element Tools → Transform
Select Translate
Select Direction: X
Enter Translate Distance: 75
Activate Copy Elem
Enter No. of Copies: 2
Enter 1 next to Pick Part
Click Visible in the General Selection interface
Click Tran +
Click Accept
Click the Auto Center (AutCen) render button
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 239 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Rotate elements...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop11/star.k)
Turn on the mesh (using the Mesh render button)
Go to Element Tools → Transform
Select Rotate
Select Rot. Axis: Z
Enter XYZ: 0,0,0
Enter Rot. Angle: 36
Activate Copy Elem
Enter No. of Copies: 9
Enter 1 next to Pick Part
Click Visible in the General Selection interface
Click Rotate +
Click Accept
Click the Auto Center (AutCen) render button
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 240 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Create a CNRB (*CONSTRAINED_NODAL_RIGID_BODY)...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop11/bolt_hole.k)
Turn on the mesh (using the Mesh render button)
Go to Model → Create Entity
Expand Constrained
Select Nodal Rigid Body (CNRB)
Select Cre
Click the Unreferenced Node (UnRef) render button
Pick the middle node first
Pick the nodes around the hole perimeter
Click Apply
Go to Model → Keyword
Expand CONSTRAINED to verify that a “NODAL_RIGID_BODY” has been created
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 241 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Create a cross section (*DATABASE_CROSS_SECTION)...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop11/tube.k)
Turn on the mesh (using the Mesh render button)
Click the Left render button
Go to Model → Create Entity
Expand Database
Select Cross Section
Select Cre
Select Plane
Select NX
Pick a node on the desired plane
Click Apply
Go to Model → Keyword
Expand DATABASE to verify that a “CROSS_SECTION_PLANE” has been created
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 242 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Create a coordinate system (*DEFINE_COORDINATE)...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop11/star.k)
Turn on the mesh (using the Mesh render button)
Go to Model → Create Entity
Expand Define
Select Coordinate
Select Cre
Select Type: *NODES
Pick nodes 5, 9, and 7 (in that order)
Enter Title: CS1
Click Apply
Go to Model → Keyword
Expand DEFINE to verify that a “COORDINATE_NODES” has been created
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 243 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Create a node set...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop11/sphere.k)
Turn on the mesh (using the Mesh render button)
Rotate the model for an isometric view
Go to Model → Create Entity
Expand Set Data
Select *SET_NODE
Select Cre
Enter Title: node set 1
Select ByElem in the General Selection interface
Activate Prop
Set Ang: 45.0
Pick an element on the curved outer surface
Click Apply
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 244 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Create a segment set (continued)...
Select Show
Click None
Select Cre
Select *SET_SEGM
Enter Title: segment set 1
Select ByElem in the General Selection interface
Activate Prop
Set Ang: 45.0
Pick an element on the curved outer surface
Click Apply
Go to Model → Keyword
Expand SET to verify that sets have been created (NODE_LIST, SEGMENT)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 245 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Create curves (geometry)...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop11/wavy_shell.k)
Turn on the mesh (using the Mesh render button)
Go to Curve → Spline
Select Method: Interpolation Points
Click the nodes along right side of the gap in order from top to bottom
Click Apply
Do the same for the left side of the gap
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 246 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Create a mesh using curves (continued)...
Go to Mesh → N-Line Mesher
Select Type: 2 Line Shell
Select Element Size
Click both lines in the graphics area
Enter S1: 18 (and hit the Enter key)
Enter S2: 18
Enter S3: 18
Enter S4: 18
Enter Part ID: 3
Click Mesh It
Click Accept
Turn on the mesh (using the Mesh render button)
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 247 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Part trimming...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop11/ptrim/C2500D-V4f_single.k)
Enter m 140 on the command line
Go to Model → Assembly and Part (SelPart)
Deactivate CNRB, Mass, and Disc
Turn on the mesh (using the Mesh render button)
Go to Curve → Circle
Select Method: Parameters
Click the “.” button next to Origin Point X
Select Node (in the Create Position interface)
Pick a node in the middle of the truck bed
Click Done (in the Create Position interface)
Enter Radius: 400
Click Apply
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 248 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Part trimming (continued)...
Go to Element Tools → Part Trim
Select Parts
Pick the truck bed in graphics window
Select Curves
Pick the circle in the graphics window
Click Z
Click Trim
Click Accept
Go to Geometry Tool → Manage
Click Visible in the General Selection interface
Select Delete in the Model Management interface
Go to Element Tool → Element Editing
Select Delete
Activate Prop in the General Selection interface
Pick an element in the middle of the trimmed area
Click Delete
Click Accept
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 249 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Mesh morphing...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > IGES File (select /workshop11/morph/8lines.iges)
Click Open in the IGES Read Options popup
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop11/morph/tube.k)
Rotate the model for an isometric view
Click the Wire render button
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 250 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Mesh morphing (continued)...
Go to Element Tools → Morph
Select Morphing Type: 8 Line Cons
Select Source
Select SLine1
Pick lines 1,2,3,4 in that order (you must select the same end of each line)
Select Target
Select TLine1
Pick lines 5,6,7,8 in that order (order must be consistent with source lines)
Activate Select Nodes To Be Morphed
Click Visible in the General Selection interface
Click Map
Click Close
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 251 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Spotweld generation...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop11/swgen/rail.k)
Click the Wire render button
Go to Mesh → Spotweld Generation
Click Open (select /workshop11/swgen/rail.spot)
Enter Search Radius: 1.0
Click Mat. Properties
Enter RO: 7.8e-6
Enter E: 210.0
Enter SIGY: 0.35
Enter ET: 0.3
Click Create
Click Accept
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 252 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Mesh smoothing...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop11/ptrim/C2500D-V4f_single.k)
Enter m 146 on the command line
Go to Model → Assembly and Part (SelPart)
Deactivate CNRB, Mass, and Disc
Click the Mesh and Auto Center (AutCen) render buttons
Go to Element Tools → Smooth
Select Select Elements
Activate Prop in the General Selection interface
Pick an element in the middle of PID 146 in the graphics window
Click Smooth several times
Click Accept
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 253 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Workshop 10 (continued...)
Find and delete unreferenced entities...
Launch a new session of LS-PrePost
File > Open > LS-DYNA Keyword (select /workshop8/belted/belted.k)
Turn on the mesh (using the Mesh render button)
Rotate the model for an isometric view
Click the Unreferenced Node (UnRef) render button
Go to Application → Model Checking
Click Model Clean
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 254 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Configuration File
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 255 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation
Configuration
Configuration files
• Lsppconf – record general configuration parameters, user the pull down menu “Setting”->”Configuration Settings” to set parameters
• Lspplasttouch – record last session windows size, dialog location, file path, etc.
• Configuire_Toolbar.cfg – record toolbar configurations
• .lspp_recent – record recently used files and their locations
Configuration file location (each version of LS-PrePost has its own directory)
• Windows – c:\users\uname\AppData\Roaming\LSTC\LS-PrePost3.2
• Linux - $HOME/LSTC/LS-Prepost3.2
LS-PrePost Intro | January 2013 256 ©2013 Livermore Software Technology Corporation