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Define Materials
Use the Engineering Data Workspace to define and modify material properties, as well as import material libraries. Typically, you access this workspace from the Engineering Data cell of a Mechanical analysis system included in the Project Schematic of Workbench.
Import Materials
For the Windows platform, when you open Mechanical, either from Workbench or independently, you can import available materials or material libraries in Engineering Data using the Assignment property of part and body objects.
In addition, when you open Mechanical independently, the Materials object provides the context (right-click) menu option . This enables you to import material files in .xml format.
Note: Any changes you make to the local material libraries in Engineering Data, including material property changes, library additions, etc., will be reflected in Mechanical, whether opened through Workbench or independently, once you have closed and reopened the applications.
Overview of Part Behavior Based on Material Properties
A part's response is determined by the material properties assigned to the part.
Depending on the application, material properties can be linear or nonlinear, as well as temperature-dependent.
Linear material properties can be constant or temperature-dependent, and isotropic or orthotropic.
Nonlinear material properties are usually tabular data, such as plasticity data (stress-strain curves for different hardening laws), Hyperelastic material data.
To define temperature-dependent material properties, you must input data to define a property-versus-temperature graph.
To define material-based damping properties, you must specify data in the Material Depending Damping property group. Mechanical supports material-based damping in addition to damping specified in the application. See below for a listing of the analysis types that support material-based damping.
Although you can define material properties separately for each analysis, you have the option of adding your materials to a material library by using the Engineering Data tab. This enables quick access to and re-use of material data in multiple analyses.
For all orthotropic material properties, by default, the Global Coordinate System is used when you apply properties to a part in the Mechanical application. If desired, you can also apply a local coordinate system to the part.
Material Dependent Damping Definition (Engineering Data and Mechanical)
In the Engineering Data workspace, you can specify Material Depending Damping using the Damping Ratio and the Constant Structural Damping Coefficient properties.
These Material Dependent Damping properties have the same name as the properties in the Damping Controls of Mechanical. The Damping Ratio property in Engineering Data generates the command MP,DMPR. In Mechanical, the Damping Ratio property generates the command DMPRAT. Similarly, the Constant Structural Damping Coefficient property defined in Engineering Data generates the command MP,DMPS and if defined in Mechanical, the property generates the command DMPSTR. The solver supports the use of these commands in combination or individually.
The following tables list the analysis types that support material-based damping defined in Engineering Data. Note that some analyses require specific settings or conditions in order to support material damping definitions. The Yes entries below indicate which command is written to the input file or whether both commands are written to the input file, based on certain settings/conditions.
|
Modal (without Damping) |
Modal (Full Damped) |
Modal (Reduced Damped) | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Damping Ratio (MP,DMPR) |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
Constant Structural Damping Coefficient (MP,DMPS) |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Harmonic Response (MSUP) |
Transient (MSUP) | |
|---|---|---|
|
Damping Ratio (MP,DMPR) |
Yes[a] |
Yes[a] |
|
Constant Structural Damping Coefficient (MP,DMPS) |
Yes[b] |
Yes[b] |
[a] This analysis type requires that you set the Damped property to No in the Analysis Settings of the upstream Modal Analysis. The MP,DMPR command is not sent again in the linked MSUP Harmonic/MSUP Transient analysis, as the application defines Damping Ratio (MP,DMPR) in the upstream Modal analysis. For a stand-alone MSUP Harmonic Response analysis, you define the Damping Ratio accordingly in the analysis.
[b] This analysis type requires that you set the Damped property to Yes in the Analysis Settings of the upstream Modal Analysis. The MP,DMPS command is not sent again in the linked MSUP Harmonic/MSUP Transient analysis, as the application defines the Constant Structural Damping Coefficient (MP,DMPS) in the upstream Modal analysis. For a stand-alone Full Harmonic Response analysis, you define the Constant Structural Damping Coefficient (MP,DMPS) accordingly in the analysis.
|
Harmonic Response (Full) |
Transient (Full) | |
|---|---|---|
|
Damping Ratio (MP,DMPR) |
No |
No |
|
Constant Structural Damping Coefficient (MP,DMPS) |
Yes[a] |
Yes[a] |
[a] This analysis type requires that you set the Damped property to Yes in the Analysis Settings of the upstream Modal Analysis. The MP,DMPS command is not sent again in the linked MSUP Harmonic/MSUP Transient analysis, as the application defines the Constant Structural Damping Coefficient (MP,DMPS) in the upstream Modal analysis. For a stand-alone Full Harmonic Response analysis, you define the Constant Structural Damping Coefficient (MP,DMPS) accordingly in the analysis.