Dear madam,

Answer is yes, ANSYA APDL is capable to solve this kind of problems.

Thank You

Dear Mr. Tejani,

Many thanks for your answer.

I will be using a the explicit dynamic solver for a static problem and hence will have to treat it in a quasi-static approach. Would I be correct if I choose the analysis type as being Transient and then apply the load over a large time step, say 15 seconds or so? 

Also, do you suggest I use SHELL163 as an element type instead of SHELL181. The main difference between them is that SHELL163 has 12 degrees of freedom at each node rather than 6 since it includes acceleration and velocity as well.

Thank you.

Regards,

Sarah

Dear Sarah

Currentl I am working on ultimate strength analysis of ship structures. Generally I use ANSYS APDL, beside this I am learning ANSYS-LS DYNA, 

If you use Ansys-ls dyna, you have to use Shell163. If you use an expilict solver for nonlinear collapse analysis, you should consider inertia effects. Considering large time step may  reduce the inertia effects but it takes a very long CPU time rather than classical static solution. 

I suggest you that, If you have serious convergence problem with highly nonlinear problems (contact, crash etc. ), use the ansys-ls dyna. But ıf you consider only buckling and plasticity effects, static nonlinear analysis would be enough for you. 

If you still have convergence problem, you may try ABAQUS.

Dear Mr. Ozdemir,

Thank you for your answer. Things are more clear now.

The reason why I'm using an explicit solver is to see whether I can obtain better results when compared to an implicit solver. The inertia effects should not be an issue for me since I will not be analysing the effect of an impact load.

Regards,

Sarah

Dear Mr. Peters

You are right, I meant convergence problem with nonlinear static solution with ANSYS APDL, not explicit solution with ANSYS LS-DYNA.

Best Regards.

Murat Ozdemir.

Dear Sarah Sultana,

I strongly suggest that you should use MATLAB for structural analysis.