MECH5680M coursework report
Report template
Please complete each section following a journal submission format and sticking to the word count.
Any text in colour (including on the title page!) should be removed and replaced with your report sections.
The report for this coursework is structured and includes instructions so that you can check that all of the minimum information is reported. Instructions are either stated as you should or you can, prioritise your writing accordingly.
Please use this two-column template and do not change the margin size, text size or paragraph formatting. You can add figures or tables that span across both columns, not within the margins.
Write your report assuming it is a paper submitted to International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering (hence that your readers are experts in numerical methods: e.g. you should name and reference the material models used, not describe their mathematical expressions).
Write your report without using terminology which is specific to Abaqus (e.g. the section property is a specific Abaqus concept which is simply the association of the geometry to a type of modelling simplification) but mention that you have used Abaqus.
Best practice examples of journal papers reporting FEA work can be found in Minerva.
Introduction (max 400 words)
The introduction should briefly answer the questions:
What is the problem?
Why is it interesting?
Why is a numerical simulation relevant?
You should outline the problem and why it was worth tackling (you can include a drawing). You can review the literature, recording briefly the main contributors and summarising the status of the field when you started the work. You should state briefly the advantages of a numerical simulation for this problem.
In the section only, you can directly use some of the wording found in the description of the coursework.
Methods (max 1200 words)
You should describe and justify the different aspects of your models. You should give enough details that the method is reproducible. Do not mix Methods with Results or Discussion, they come next. Just say what you did, succinctly. Use paragraph titles if you want to.
Simplified model(s)
For your simplified model you should include a description and rationale for (not necessarily in this order):
your choice of geometry and boundary conditions
your choice of element type
the method used to identify the best material model based on the experimental data
the method used to evaluate which contact configuration and algorithm to use
If you have more than one simplified model, give them clear names so that they can be referred to later in the results and discussion sections.
Final model
For your final model you should include a description and rationale for:
your choice of remaining simplifications in the geometry and boundary conditions
your choice of mesh size and element type
your description of your outputs of interest and how they are extracted from the FE model, as well as the analysis performed.
While you have not yet described the results of your material and contact algorithm analysis, you should mention which material model and contact description is used.
Results (max 500 words)
This section presents the outputs of the models. Do not mix results with their discussion, it comes next!
Report your results simply, without opinion or interpretation. Present tables or graphs and figures with your data and describe in the text the most important features. Spend a little time deciding how you are going to tabulate, graph or illustrate the results:
What is the clearest way to present them?
How many decimal places do you need? (Be consistent.)
Do not report results that were not described in the methods.
Simplified model(s)
Final model
Discussion and conclusions (max 900 words)
In this section, you should discuss and interpret your results and their significance. You draw conclusions from the results and show how they answer the research question.
This should involve summarising the results, discussing whether they are expected or unexpected (you can compare your results to previous work in the literature), interpreting the practical conclusions that can be drawn from the results and hypothesising about their generality.
You should also discuss the limitation of the methodology used, especially if they influence the interpretation of and conclusion from your results.
You should not present any new data but may present an analysis or compare your different results. You should discuss all the results you presented.
The discussion should first be about your simplified model(s), then about your final model.
Simplified model(s)
The first part of the discussion should draw conclusions about material model and contact description best fitted for the problem explaining how the conclusion from the simplified model(s) should (or not) apply to the final model.
Final model
The second part of the discussion should be about an engineering analysis of the problem
Conclusion
This final paragraph should include a few sentences summarising what was performed and found and what should be done next.
References
State all sources of information using a correct referencing format.
You are not required to follow a specific referencing system but you should be consistent in your reference style.
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