Moment capacity form bending analysis in Abaqus and direction convention of moment

[Tinni1]

Hello,

I am performing a bending analysis in Abaqus for the cold-formed steel U section. The span is 2.4m. Boundary conditions are simply supported. Displacement control load has been applied at 3 intermediate points of the beam.

I have below two questions:

1. I want to obtain the maximum moment capacity of the beam from the FEA analysis. How do I get that?
2. In the history output I have selected the reaction moment RM1, RM2, and RM3 at the loading point location. Is RM1, RM2, and RM3 is moment about the global x, y and z axis respectively?



Any help is appreciated!

 

[FEA way]

Which type of finite elements are you using ? There are several ways to obtain the bending moment, depending on the type of elements.

Yes, 1, 2 and 3 mean X, Y and Z axes in Abaqus, respectively.

 

[Tinni1]

Thanks, I am using S4R shell elements. The model looks like as attached. Please let me know if you need any more details?

[URL unfurl="true"]https://res.cloudinary.com/engineering-com/raw/upload/v1653335488/tips/beam_model_ovtbbj.docx[/url]

Just to reconfirm, the moments are along the global axis or about the global axis?

many thanks!

 

[FEA way]

For shell elements, you can choose section moment (SM1 - SM3) output. Just be careful when interpreting these values, they are in local directions.

Moments are about axes.

 

[Tinni1]

Great, Many thanks!