Using Hypermesh and Abaqus/CAE , the five shipping
container models were created from a combination of three
dimensional beam elements (B31), linear tetrahedral solid elements
(C3D4), and linear quadrilateral or triangular shell elements
(S4R or S3). The three dimensional beams contain three
translational and three rotational degrees of freedom (translation
in direction 1–3 and rotation about axis 1–3). Tie and coupling
constraints were applied to each container model component
in Abaqus/CAE to ensure the connections would not fail.
Also, the bottom corners of each container were fixed to the
ground using boundary conditions restricting translation and
rotation in all directions. Coupling the degrees of freedom of
adjoining parts is viewed as a simplified upper-bound model of
the overall stiffness of the structure as compared to modeling
the full non-linear contact interactions between the components.
This was done so that a linear FE solver could be used, to reduce
the computational time, and to avoid the convergence issues that
arise when conducting simulations with contact interactions.
Physically, it appears to be a reasonable assumption because of
the size of the welds connecting the components in container
structures and the fact that relative motion and friction between
components under the applied loads should not be significant.
Increasing in complexity and accuracy, the five simplified container
models are presented in Fig. 7.