WHITE PAPER
Leveraging Materials Homogenization in Ansys
Modeling and evaluating the behavior of complex microstructures, including different phases with arbitrary geometries and constituent materials, is a complex task. Before the release the Material Designer capability in Ansys Mechanical and Ansys Mechanical APDL, Ansys users have traditionally carried out homogenization studies of microstructures through the use of our powerful general finite element capabilities provided by the APDL language to interact directly with our implicit solver. For example, through the use of APDL CE command, constraint equations can be applied to nodes on opposite sides of the meshed microstructure to simulate the presence of periodic boundary conditions and define points (pilot nodes) for preparing fundamental load scenarios for the desired microstructure. See the image below, in which the cross-section of a unidirectional (UD) compo-site material has been meshed in Mechanical and an APDL snippet has been used to create periodic boundary conditions and pilot nodes. Alternatively, the entire mesh of different microstructures can be transferred to Mechanical as external meshes loaded into the Ansys Workbench project schematic through the External Model tool.
