How to know force in a spring 1

[msonys]

Hi,
I am working on large I-girder steel structure with different openings in its web, I have attached four springs on four corners of the structure when looking from front. I need to verify the forces in the spring, for stiffness I used 1, I also dont know about its exact units, as maual calls it N per relative displacement. How can I see magnitude of the force in springs.

Shahid

 

[bassmanjax]

Assuming that you are using a SPRINGA or SPRING1/2 type element, you can output the force in the spring by asking for S11 in the *ELEMENT OUTPUT option. See section 26.1.2 for info on spring elements and section 4.1.1 on element output.

Regards

Martin Stokes CEng MIMechE

 

[bassmanjax]

Regarding the units, what unit system did you use to build your model? How did you define the spring stiffness?

If you have used SI units (metres, Newtons, seconds..) then spring stiffness should be in N/m and the spring force in N.

Regards

Martin Stokes CEng MIMechE

 

[barney75]

Hi,
I don't konow if I understand exactly the geometry but I think you can just look at the RF (reaction forces) at one of the spring extreme that is fixed (if it is).