LS-DYNA - Additional Information

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What is LS-DYNA?

LS-DYNA is an analysis software package for use in predicting how a prototype will respond to real-world events. It enables users to produce virtual prototypes, realistically simulating the full-motion behavior of complex mechanical systems on their computers and quickly analyzing multiple design variations until an optimal design is achieved. Among the applications that LS-DYNA is used for are crashworthiness simulations, metal forming, biomedical applications and earthquake engineering.

Where is LS-DYNA?

LS-DYNA is available on all of the computers on the engineering network

Before Starting LS-DYNA on UNIX or LINUX

Before starting LS-DYNA, you will need to modify your .cshrc. The following 3 lines need to be added to the end:

if (-e $SOFT/lsdyna ) then
	      source $SOFT/lsdyna
	   endif

Starting LS-DYNA

To start LS-DYNA type 'ls-dyna i=input-file' at the command line where 'input-file' is your input file.

Displaying Results

You can then view the results with the post processor. To start the post processor, type 'ls-post' and you will get a GUI menu.

Running in Background

The command line sequence for running LS-DYNA in background is:

ls-dyna i=inputfile >out &

The spaces in the above line is Important.

Manuals

Examples

There are examples of LS-DYNA code in /opt/lsdyna/examples. You may copy any of them and try them out.

Additional Resources

The following is a very useful web page for FEA applications in general.

The University of Mississippi has a listserv that leans towards the ability of LS-DYNA to analyze crashworthiness. To subscribe:

Send to:  listserv@listserv.mcsr.olemiss.edu
   Subject:  do not include a subject (leave blank)
   Message: SUBSCRIBE crash-l FirstName LastName

You will be sent directions on how to access the archives, post a question and unsubscribe.

What Software Will LS-DYNA Interact With?

LS-DYNA will interact in various ways with the following software in the Engineering Building: Ansys or Hypermesh is a good preprocessor for LS-DYNA.