ANSYS Material Designer is a useful tool to homogenize (average) complex components with multiple composite materials so that the component’s material can be represent by an orthotropic material or Hill material.
Use “Extend” to select adjacent tiny faces so that Virtual Topology->Merge Cells can be used to merge them. This is a much simpler procedure than using Worksheet. Watch the bottom status bar; if it says 2 or more Faces Selected you need to Merge Cells.
If two faces are selected, the status bar will show that.
Worksheet is a beautiful tool to select hundreds of edges with a bunch of rules. Applying mesh size control to these selected edges could produce a consistent mesh pattern among many bodies.
(1) Division 1's Pressure Vessels can be Designed with Division 2's Design by Analysis
Elastic-Plastic Stress Analysis Method of Division 2 can be used to qualify Division 1 vessels by elevating the design factors from 2.4 (Division 2) to 3.5 (Division 1).
Stress-strain curves of any materials used in elastic-plastic analysis shall be computed according to ASME, Section VIII, Division 2, Annex 3-D STRENGTH PARAMETERS (2019, page 148). Don’t use measured stress-strain curves.
For linear elastic analysis, there is no converged stress at the areas with stress concentration. The maximum stress is infinite just as the theory predicts. Thus, if there is stress concentration, the maximum stress in a linear elastic analysis is not a useful criterion to validate the structure.
(1) Use Three or More Layers of Reduced 8-node Elements in the Thickness Direction
For example, if three layers of reduced elements are used, the computed tip deflection is 4.828 mm; if four layers, 4.581 mm. The computed deflection is reasonable, but they are still larger than the theoretical value (4.281 mm).
(2) Use Two or More Layers of Reduced 20-node Elements or One or More Layer of Fully Integrated 20-node Elements in the Thickness Direction