Lecture 8

Postprocessing
14.5 Release

ANSYS LS-DYNA
in Mechanical APDL
2012 ANSYS, Inc.

February 5, 2013

Release 14.5

Objectives
This lecture concerns Postprocessing. Both the POST1 and POST26 ANSYS
postprocessors are illustrated. Accessing LS-DYNA ASCII results file data
is also covered. Since the LS-PREPOST postprocessor from LSTC is
unsupported by ANSYS, Inc., it is only discussed in the workshop
accompanying this lecture.

Topics:
A. POST1 Overview

B. RSYS Capabilities in POST1

C. Failed Elements in POST1
D.Animation in POST1
E. POST26 Overview
F. EDREAD Command in POST26
G.Postprocessing Workshop

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

February 5, 2013

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A. POST1 Overview
POST1, the ANSYS General Postprocessor, behaves essentially the same for ANSYS
LS-DYNA as it does for implicit ANSYS. LS-DYNA writes results for the entire
model to the binary Jobname.RST file. The SET command reads the specified
results set into the database for subsequent postprocessing:
General Postproc > Read Results > Last Set

This can be thought of as viewing a snapshot in time. The number of these

snapshots is based on the EDRST command setting.

In contrast, the POST26 Time History Postprocessor is used to view a small subset
of the model (limited by the EDHIST command) much more often via the contents
of the binary Jobname.HIS file. The frequency at which data is written to this
history file is based on the EDHTIME command setting. The Time History
Postprocessor will be discussed in more detail, later.

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

February 5, 2013

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... POST1 Overview

Upon entering POST1, the results list should be viewed:
General Postproc > Results Summary

Unlike an ANSYS implicit

transient dynamic analysis, the
load step always remains as the
first load step, unless a restart
analysis is conducted

A results set is always created

for TIME=0 in ANSYS LS-DYNA.
In addition, a results set usually
occurs after the termination
time, due to round-off. This final
results set may be in error, if the
proper modeling safeguards
were not made (i.e., extending
out load curves, etc.)
2012 ANSYS, Inc.

February 5, 2013

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... POST1 Overview

There are some differences in POST1 between ANSYS LS-DYNA and

implicit ANSYS. PowerGraphics does not behave the same. In fact,
PowerGraphics often just displays the full graphics results. For
SHELL163 elements, the stress results are not affected by viewing the
shells from the other side. However, the SHELL command, which is
normally used by full graphics, is not applicable to ANSYS LS-DYNA.

Instead, the LAYER command is used to request the through-thickness

integration point value, which is located at the layer mid-plane. If fullyintegrated shells are used, the values for each layer are averaged before
being saved to the Jobname.RST and Jobname.HIS files, so there is
always just one value per shell layer.

To get results closer to the surface, more layers should be used through
the thickness of the shell. The NIP real constant determines how many
integration points exist through the shell thickness, but the EDINT
command determines which of these layers data is saved for.
2012 ANSYS, Inc.

February 5, 2013

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... POST1 Overview

Another peculiarity is in how stress and strain data is saved. For a five
layer shell in which data is saved for each layer (NIP=5 and EDINT=5),
the stress data is available for all five layers, but LS-DYNA only writes
out strain data for the top and bottom layers. Therefore, LAYER=2
represents the second layer for stress, but the fifth layer (in this case)
for strain. Layers are counted from the bottom surface of the shell.

For PLANE162, SHELL163, and SOLID164 elements, the available strain

output depends on the type of material models used. For all material
models, total strain, total strain intensity, and total equivalent strain are
available. For some materials, elastic strains are also available. For
some plastic material models, equivalent plastic strain is available.
Plastic strain components and principal plastic strains are not. Please
consult the Element Output Data section of the ANSYS LS-DYNA Users
Guide for details concerning which elements support what output for
each given material model.

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

February 5, 2013

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B. RSYS Capabilities in POST1

The RSYS command is partially supported in ANSYS LS-DYNA. It allows

stress data from PLANE162, non-composite SHELL163, and SOLID164
elements to be viewed (and listed) in a different coordinate system. It
also lets displacement data of any explicit element to be rotated into
another coordinate system. However, it does not allow strain data of any
explicit element to be changed from the default coordinate system.

RSYS, 0

RSYS, 0

PLNSOL,S,X

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

February 5, 2013

RSYS, 1

PLNSOL,S,Y

PLNSOL,S,Y

Release 14.5

... RSYS Capabilities in POST1

The shell element formulation also effects the output. For the default RSYS=0
setting, strains (EPTO) and generalized stresses (M, T, N) are output in the element
coordinate system, and stresses (S) are output in the global Cartesian system for all
SHELL163 formulations, except for the Hughes-Liu formulation (KEYOPT(1) = 1), for
which strains (EPTO) are output in the global Cartesian system.

Shell stresses can be rotated into another coordinate system using RSYS, except for
composite shells (KEYOPT(3) = 1). The data saved on some of the LS-DYNA ASCII
files (e.g., the elout file) can be presented in a different coordinate system than
discussed above.

Local coordinate systems defined with the EDLCS command must be redefined
with the LOCAL command in order to be interpreted by RSYS. Elements that do
not support RSYS should be unselected before issuing the RSYS command to avoid
POST1 error messages. Finally, the RSYS command is not applicable to POST26.

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

February 5, 2013

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C. Failed Elements in POST1

As previously discussed, ANSYS LS-DYNA simulates material failure by removing
those elements from the model that exceed a specified failure stress or strain.
POST1 only plots elements with a stress record, so resultant beams and combination
elements are not plotted, since they have no stress data, even though they have not
failed.

Element failure based on equivalent plastic strain is the most common mechanism
for this feature. An example involving eroding contact is shown below. LS-PREPOST
can also be used to view element failure.

PUNCH
BLANK

DIE
2012 ANSYS, Inc.

February 5, 2013

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D. Animation in POST1
Use the ANDATA and ANMRES macros to animate results in POST1:
Utility Menu > PlotCtrls > Animate > Over Results

This insures that no data will be interpolated, as is done with some of

the other animation macros. Only actual results data will be used. The
SET command must be issued before attempting the animation, or else a
warning message will be displayed:

True scale displacements provide for the best results interpretation:

Utility Menu > PlotCtrls > Style > Displacement Scaling > DMULT = 1.0

Note: The ANDATA.MAC macro is unusable for all but the most simple
models. Until this problem is corrected, you will need to use
interpolation (via ANTIME.MAC) to animate your models.

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E. POST26 Overview

POST26, the ANSYS Time History Postprocessor, tracks data over the
entire span of the analysis. Although the Jobname.RST file may be
processed, the Jobname.HIS file is most often used, since the latter
generally contains data saved at many more time steps, albeit for a
smaller subset of the model (specified by the EDHIST command):
TimeHist Postpro > Variable Viewer > File > Open > Explicit Dynamics
Results (*.his) > Jobname.his > Open > Jobname.db > Open

The frequency at which data is written to the Jobname.HIS file is based

on the EDHTIME command setting. This setting also controls the
output frequency of the LS-DYNA ASCII files (accessed via EDREAD).

Of the standard Variable Viewer options, the Node Solution

and Element Solution selections are valid, but the Reaction
Forces and Solution Summary selections are not. Some of the
ASCII files can be accessed via the Explicit Dynamics Solution
selection (see EDREAD discussion in next section).

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... POST26 Overview

The Nodal Solution and Element Solution selections correspond to the NSOL and ESOL
commands, respectively. Their use is essentially the same as that in implicit ANSYS,
but the prior restrictions are in effect.

The LAYERP26 command identifies the layer for which POST26 results data is
requested. As mentioned previously, the EDINT command determines how much
integration point data is saved to the disk.

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F. EDREAD Command in POST26

POST26 can also postprocess seven of the LS-DYNA ASCII output files:

GLSTAT
- Global statistics data (Total model basis)
MATSUM
- Material energies summary (Part ID basis)
SPCFORC - Single point constraint reaction forces (Node basis)
RCFORC
- Resultant interface forces (Contact entity basis)
SLEOUT
- Sliding interface energies data (Contact entity basis)
RBDOUT
- Rigid Body Data (Part ID basis)
NODOUT
- Node Data (Node basis)
Most of these (e.g., MATSUM), can be read via the Variable Viewer:

Use Ctrl key for

multiple picks
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... EDREAD Command in POST26

All 7 ASCII files can be read in directly with the EDREAD command:
TimeHist Postpro > Read LS-DYNA Data > GLSTAT NODOUT

When reading most of these files, additional information is required. For example,
the SPCFORC file requires the specification of a node number for which the reaction
force data is desired.

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... EDREAD Command in POST26

For the desired ASCII output data to be available, several things must
be done before the solution is initiated:
The output file needs to be requested ( EDOUT, SPCFORC )
The appropriate restraint, etc. needs to exist ( D, 1, ALL, 0.0 )
The entity must belong to a history file component ( EDHIST, NODE_1 )

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G. Postprocessing Workshop
This workshop consists of the following problem:
WS08. Bending a Pipe with a Rigid Punch
Please refer to your Workshop Supplement for instructions.

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

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