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Thanks for the suggestion johan. There are a couple of related labs features but not exactly what you're asking for: 1 turn on the labs features: Tools -> Options -> Labs Note the warning that appears. Then check: Tools -> Labs -> Outp…
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Version 4 will have an easy way to use contact with the CalculiX solver. The current version 3 already has "compression only support" which is contact against a rigid surface of the same shape as the model's surface. Thanks for the suggestion about…
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Hello mlarm Not sure if I understand quite what you're doing, so here's a picture of my interpretation. If the ground slab is effectively fixed (very massive and stiff) then you can put fixed supports under each isolator and ignore the ground slab…
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Hello apadzak, rhoka and VMH. Sorry I'm a bit late in this thread again - somehow it's not sending me email notifications so I didn't see your posts. I'll add some more flexibility for colors in v4 - possibly an option with more distinct colors or …
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Hello rhoka, sorry for the delay, I just noticed your post. I'll look into adding those units. You can change visibility after solving by using the other Components branch under Solution in the outline tree. It used to have magenta but I removed …
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I'm working towards that as part of a bigger redesign for the postprocessor but it probably won't be ready for version 4. Can you explain your use case? I see it as inconvenient having to check 2 or 3 different stress plots as well as the outline t…
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Hello J_Marc The asymmetry is because the elements' local coordinates (U,V,W) aren't all aligned the same way and the moment per length is shown in the element coordinate system. You can see their orientations by turning on the Show element axes bu…
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The axisymmetric analysis type is fairly limited. Instead, you can revolve the 2D mesh into a thin solid wedge, even just a couple of degrees thick and solve it in 3D with all the 3D capabilities. You'll need appropriate symmetry constraints, which …
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Good idea. I may need to add some more sophisticated examples such as joining a shell to a solid or spreading a load like you're doing. There's a very simple one at the end of the tutorials manual but it's just coupling two nodes.
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Mecway's constraint equations are very low level so you can only specify DOFs, not entire nodes. To do all directions, you would have to make 3 equations, all identical except using different DOFs - x,y,z. This is where the text field comes in handy…
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Thanks for pointing this out, rhoka. There's a limitation in that a node typically has to belong to an element to be included in the solution. I hope to address this in the next version. To work around it, just create an element on that lone node. …
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Not much documentation on the formulations sorry, other than p48-49 of the manual. They're pretty much the same as you'll find in many textbooks. The shells are flat plate elements combined with membrane elements. Quad4 and quad8 use reduced integra…
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Absolutely. A surface like this that's not the boundary of a solid can't be meshed into a solid. This is the type of thing that'll cause strange crashing and failing of the mesher in Mecway. Unfortunately it doesn't show the problem it so it can be …
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These zig-zag displacements are characteristic of hourglassing http://www.quora.com/What-is-hourglass-effect-in-finite-element-analysis It can happen with quad4 shells in Mecway if they only have point constraints or loads. In this case, you can …
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Here's my attempt at having both ends fixed but no extra tension. It uses the same trick of having a tension force that initially stiffens it to prevent unconstrained rigid body motion, but at the final time step, this artificial tensioning force is…
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Hello Protontim. There are two issues with this file: 1) The mesh is too coarse. Refining it increases the stress so you should keep refining it until the stress stops increasing much. You can also get a big reduction in mesh size (or improvement i…
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Hello barrti The line elements are what has the square section, so it uses both. You could also change it to circular to be closer to a real cable. The only geometric property of the section that it's using is the cross-sectional area. Yes, you ca…
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Hello CMZA. It sounds like you have two disconnected parts in the same STEP file - the pipe and the flange. In that case, Mecway's mesher usually won't work or won't align the nodes on both parts. Instead, you could combine them into a single part.…
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Hello J_Marc While there isn't an equation input for this, you can achieve it using the hydrostatic pressure load. That applies a trapezoidal force but you have to work backwards to calculate the parameters. For example: Maximum linear pressure = …
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Some ways to find them: A) Turn on node and element numbering and if you see two element numbers superimposed on each other, that indicates two elements at the same location. If the two elements have some of their own nodes then use View -> Open…
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Hello prop_design. I'd like to address something you said quite a way back in this thread which I think it's quite important. You probably know some of this but it's also for other people who might be reading this because it's a common issue with de…
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Yea, you can sometimes get really weird elements buried in there with the automesher. I've found the worst ones seem to be where two faces of a tet are nearly co-planar and both on the same surface of the object. It looks perfectly OK visually but m…
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You should expect much more than 416.7MPa there because it's a stress concentration. Not that 808.6 MPa is necessarily correct either though because of the coarse mesh. That's a good point about element quality, Anthony. There are some "kite" shape…
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It just occurred to me that you're probably interested in the stress near the hole, not in the middle of the plate. In that case, yes, you'll need a more refined mesh like you made, and will have to be careful about the distribution of the load. If …
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Link_plate_coarse seems to be OK. I think you have an extra zero in your hand calculation. I get: Stress = F/A = 100kN / 0.0024m^2 = 41.7MPa Mecway shows Stress YY = 40-42MPa on all the nodes in middle cross section of the plate. Link_Plate_Refine…
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It sounds like there's no constraint in the vertical direction. In that case I would expect either a solver failure or a very large (and erroneous) rigid body displacement in the vertical direction if there's any slight imbalance in the opposing for…
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One way would be stiff springs or truss elements since these can only transmit force along their direction. Here's an example. You could also use constraint equations to couple only the translational DOFs in the normal direction, but I think that m…
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J_Marc, the attachment seems to have been lost. If you mean rotating the L beams about their length axis, then you can do that with Element properties -> Orientation. It's a bit tricky with L because you're specifying the direction of the princi…
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Thanks VMH, that's very clear. I would add that you can also move the stiffeners away from the plate a little to make a more realistic connection without the flanges being embedded in the plate. Bonded contact allows some gaps like this and the stru…
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Hello barrti There's no difference in capabilities between the two versions except for the node limit on saving and solving. That number of nodes will usually slow down the graphics. Depending on the complexity of the geometry (lots of exterior fac…
