Introduction

*SECTION_SHELL
 Fuse Plate in Tension Exhibits Hourglassing
 LS-DYNA Manual Section: *SECTION_SHELL

Additional Sections:
*CONSTRAINED_SPOTWELD
*LOAD_NODE_POINT

Example: Fuse Plate in Tension Exhibits Hourglassing

Filename: section_shell.hourglassing.k

Description:
A fuse plate is used to connect a cut in a wide flange beam. The beam is loaded
at an end, putting the fuse plate in tension. In this loading condition, the
fuse plate exhibits a great deal of hourglassing.

Model:
The fuse plate and beam are constructed with shell elements and a piecewise
linear plasticity material model with failure. The fuse plate is connected to
the beam using spot welds (*CONSTRAINED_SPOTWELD). One end of the beam is
fixed with SPC's, while the other end has several nodal point loads
(*B OUNDARY_SPC_NODE, *LOAD_NODE_POINT). Multiple point loads are used to
better distribute the input loads.

Results:
One look at the figures explains why it's called "hour glassing". To fix the
hourglassing problem the fuse plate could be re-meshed or a fully integrated
shell element formulation could be used.