Femap help...

[sych]

I'm just started using Femap few months ago and I have a question. I'm looking for the compressive load at the edge of the plate in which the model is 3D. For some reason, only normal X, normal Y and Shear XY are available in the contour option. There's no z direction, how do I determine my compressive load? thanks

 

[dmacx]

Plates are plain stress typically and do not have a z-directed stress.

 

[sych]

Thank you dmacx. What if my model is a 3D box. In aircraft axis, view looking forward , i have a plate in Y-Z axis and view looking to the side is X-Z axis. so, in the result, how do I determine/know which axis or direction it refers to since the result for all view are in X and Y on F06...

 

[ThomasH]

The results xy-coordinate system is the local system for the plate. This is not the same as the global system I think you refer to.

One way to determine the local systems orientation is to apply a very simple load and check the results, another is to check the elements orientation on the View-options dialogue.

Good Luck

Thomas

 

[THSavo]

To find out element orientation, you can plot element orientation vector from somewhere, I cannot remember from where, nor have access to femap to check. If I remember correctly, the orientation vector is directed from first node to the fourth, or second, node and shows the x-axis direction, check help documentation.

My experience is that when using shell elements with femap, one must always check element orientation since very often elements have completely mixed orientations. When plotting directional stresses this could lead to horribly wrong results.

Cheers,

Tony