Mechanical APDL Structural Analysis Guide

4. Display the results using any of the following options:

Option: Display Deformed Shape

Command(s): PLDISP

GUI: Main Menu> General Postproc> Plot Results> Deformed Shape

In a large-deformation analysis, you might prefer to use a true scale display (/DSCALE,,1).

Option: Contour Displays

Command(s): PLNSOL or PLESOL

GUI: Main Menu> General Postproc> Plot Results> Contour Plot> Nodal Solu or Element Solu

Use these options to display contours of stresses, strains, or any other applicable item. If you have

adjacent elements with different material behavior (such as can occur with plastic or multilinear

elastic material properties, with different material types, or with adjacent deactivated and activated

elements), you should take care to avoid nodal stress averaging errors in your results. Selecting logic

(described in the Basic Analysis Guide) provides a means of avoiding such errors.

The KUND field on PLNSOL and PLESOL gives you the option of overlaying the undeformed shape

on the display.

You can also contour element table data and line element data:

Command(s):PLETAB,PLLS

GUI: Main Menu> General Postproc> Element Table> Plot Element Table

Main Menu> General Postproc> Plot Results> Contour Plot> Line Elem Res

Use PLETAB to contour element table data and PLLS to contour line element data.

Option: Tabular Listings

Command(s): PRNSOL (nodal results) PRESOL (element-by-element results) PRRSOL (reaction data)

PRETAB PRITER (substep summary data), and so on.NSORT ESORT

GUI: Main Menu> General Postproc> List Results> Nodal Solution

Main Menu> General Postproc> List Results> Element Solution

Main Menu> General Postproc> List Results> Reaction Solution

Use the NSORT and ESORT commands to sort the data before listing them.

Other Capabilities

Many other postprocessing functions - mapping results onto a path, report quality listings, and so

on - are available in POST1. See The General Postprocessor (POST1) in the Basic Analysis Guide for

details. Load case combinations usually are not valid for nonlinear analyses.

8.6.6.3. Reviewing Results in POST26.

You can also review the load-history response of a nonlinear structure using POST26, the time-history
postprocessor. Use POST26 to compare one variable against another. For instance, you might graph
the displacement at a node versus the corresponding level of applied load, or you might list the plastic
strain at a node and the corresponding TIME value. A typical POST26 postprocessing sequence might
follow these steps:

1. Verify from your output file (Jobname.OUT) whether or not the analysis converged at all desired
   load steps. You should not base design decisions on unconverged results.


2. If your solution converged, enter POST26. If your model is not currently in the database, issue RE-
   SUME.
   Command(s):/POST26

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Performing a Nonlinear Static Analysis