Introduction
This article illustrates how to perform a parametric study in MCalibration. The study can explore the behavior of any supported material model in PolyUMod, Abaqus, Ansys, LS-DYNA, COMSOL Multiphysics, or MSC.Marc material model.
A parametric study is useful for determining which material parameters are most important and how the parameters influence the predicted stress-strain response.
Step 1: Read in an MCalibration File
Start MCalibration and read in a saved mcal-file. Then click the Run Once button. Here’s an example.
Step 2: Setup the Parametric Study in MCalibration
Click on Parametric Study in the toolbar. The dialog box contains one row for each material parameter. Note that only material parameters that are selected to be optimized are part of the parametric study. Each of those material parameters have a low, medium, and a high value. By default, the medium values are the same as back in the main window of MCalibration. The low values are 10% lower than the medium values, and the high values are 10% higher than the medium values. The 10% value can be changed below the table, also note that the values in the table can also be manually edited. Click Evaluate once you are satisfied with the values. This will run the parametric study in MCalibration.
Step 3: Run the Parametric Study
Each cell in the table changes color once it has been analyzed. Note that the parametric study can use multiple CPUs if specified in the Preferences Dialog. Once the parametric study has completed the figure will show the low, medium, and high curves for the first material parameter (in this case “mu”). The influence of other material parameters can be examined by selecting them in drop-down menu below the graph. A parametric study is useful for quickly determining which material parameters are most important and which parameters do not need to be included in a material parameter optimization.
