Simulation Control /Mesh Refinement Dynamic Analysis

Hi,
I am trying to setup a dynamic simulation for an object striking a scaffold.
I am trying to set it by increasing the timestep until impact point and then reduce after by calculating the time until impact by the distance the object is away from scaffold but keep receiving errors.
Receiving the following error “Automatic timestepping led to a timestep below the minimum threshold”

I have had only had 1 successful simulation run but realistically I would require more timesteps and for it not to take as long to run if possible as I hope to increase mesh density and include 2nd order elements then replicate for varying objects at different locations. Also i have tried to reduce the mesh density on the ‘ground’ section and impact object as no stresses etc need to be calculated there but i cant seem to work out how to do so using the mesh refinements.

Hi btaylo201

I see that the boards are only constrained by physical contact definitions. One thing you can do to improve convergence to constrain the boards a bit further so that less contact calculation needs to be done.

You can do this for example with elastic supports to stabilize the simulation.

You can also adjust the Simulation control setting when you can adjust the time step.

Best regards Sebastian

Thanks Sebastian i will have a view of these.

Could you direct me to a way to reduce the mesh for the certain objects?

To be honest, I wouldn’t recommend any further reduction of the mesh.
Especially for contact simulation ( or any simulation), the mesh is very important to create accurate results. For example, the shape of the tubes is closer to hexagonal than to a round tube, which has a huge influence on the accuracy of your results.

In my opinion, you can either reduce the number of parts or try to increase the stability of the simulation to improve performance.

Best regards
Sebastian

1 Like

Sebstian, It is only on the ground surface i wish to reduce the mesh, similar to shown in this project SimScale

may I ask why you have the ground?
in my opinion, you should be able to remove the ground and assign the fixed support to the legs of the frame. This will have the same effect, as the bonded condition of the legs and the ground.

best regards Sebastian