This tutorial was completed using ANSYS 7.0. This tutorial outlines the steps necessary for solving a model meshed with p-elements. The p-method manipulates the polynomial level (p-level) of the finite element shape functions which are used to approximate the real solution. Thus, rather than increasing mesh density, the p-level can be increased to give a similar result. By keeping mesh density rather coarse, computational time can be kept to a minimum. This is the greatest advantage of using p-elements over h-elements.
A uniform load will be applied to the right hand side of the geometry shown below. The specimen was modeled as steel with a modulus of elasticity of 200 GPa.
finish /clear /title, Convection Example /prep7 ! Enter the preprocessor ! define geometry k,1,0,0 ! Define keypoints k,2,0.03,0 k,3,0.03,0.03 k,4,0,0.03 a,1,2,3,4 ! Connect the keypoints to form area ! mesh 2D areas ET,1,Plane55 ! Element type MP,Dens,1,920 ! Define density mp,c,1,2040 ! Define specific heat mp,kxx,1,1.8 ! Define heat transfer coefficient esize,0.0005 ! Mesh size amesh,all ! Mesh area finish /solu ! Enter solution phase antype,4 ! Transient analysis time,60 ! Time at end of analysis nropt,full ! Newton Raphson - full lumpm,0 ! Lumped mass off nsubst,20 ! Number of substeps, 20 neqit,100 ! Max no. of iterations autots,off ! Auto time search off lnsrch,on ! Line search on outres,all,all ! Output data for all substeps kbc,1 ! Load applied in steps, not ramped IC,all,temp,268 ! Initial conditions, temp = 268 nsel,s,ext ! Node select all exterior nodes sf,all,conv,10,368 ! Apply a convection BC nsel,all ! Reselect all nodes /gst,off ! Turn off graphical convergence monitor solve finish /post1 ! Enter postprocessor set,last ! Read in last subset of data etable,melty,temp, ! Create an element table esel,s,etab,melty,273 ! Select all elements from table above 273 finish /solu ! Re-enter solution phase antype,,rest ! Restart analysis ekill,all ! Kill all selected elements esel,all ! Re-select all elements finish /post1 ! Re-enter postprocessor set,last ! Read in last subset of data esel,s,live ! Select all live elements plnsol,temp ! Plot the temp contour of the live elements