Customizing display and calculation of resultant force and moment on the active view cuts

You can use the free body options for view cuts in the Visualization module to customize how the resultant force and moment displayed on the active view cut are calculated and to customize the summation point and coordinate system transformation.

Context:

You can specify free body options that are common to all view cuts or that are specific to a particular view cut. Abaqus/CAE can calculate the resultant force and moment by cutting through a display group, an element set, or the whole model. You can also customize the content and appearance of all free body cuts in the current viewport; see Customizing general display options for free body cuts.

Display of resultant force and moment data is available for view cuts of output databases only. You cannot display this data for view cuts when a model from the current model database is displayed in the Visualization module.

You may observe different values for the resultant forces and moments if you compare the values in the deformed and undeformed shape plots. These differences can occur because view cut–based free body force computations integrate the stress field over the area, and, if you toggle the plot state, the elements that are part of the view cut can change or the elemental deformations can change the area of the cross section.

By default, Abaqus/CAE displays the resultant force and moment only once for each view cut for which you toggle on display of the resultant force and moment. If desired, you can also display a series of vectors that show the resultant force and moment data at regular intervals through the entire model or through a portion of the model.

  1. From the main menu in the Visualization module, select Options View Cut .

    The View Cut Options dialog box appears.

    Tip: You can also use the view cut manager to customize the cut options using one of the following methods:
    • To specify options common to all view cuts, select Tools View Cut Manager from the main menu bar, and click Options.
    • To specify options for a particular view cut, select Tools View Cut Manager from the main menu bar, and click the icon to the right of the view cut for which you want to specify options.

  2. Click the Free Body tab.
  3. If you are defining cut-specific options, select Use these options.
  4. From the Computation based on options:

    • Select Cutting through a display group and select a display group to compute the resultant force and moment based on a view cut through the selected display group. By default, the current display group is selected.

    • Select Cutting through an element set and select an element set in the output database to compute the resultant force and moment based on a view cut through the selected set.

    • Select Cutting through the whole model to compute the resultant force and moment based on a view cut through the entire model.

  5. If desired, customize the summation point or the coordinate system transformation options for the resultant force and moment vectors arising from view cuts.
    1. From the Summation point options, select the three-dimensional location from which the resultant force and moment vectors originate.

      • Select Centroid of cut to place the summation point automatically at the centroid of the surface of the view cut.

        Note:

        When the view cut cuts through a shell, the centroid is based on the length times the shell thickness.

        When the view cut cuts through a beam, the centroid is at the nodal connectivity line.

      • Select User-defined, and specify a custom three-dimensional location in space or click to select the summation point from the viewport. The summation point is highlighted in the viewport.

    2. From the Component resolution options, you can specify the coordinate system transformation that takes place when vectors are displayed in component form. (See Customizing general display options for free body cuts, for more information about displaying force and moment vectors in component form.)

      • Select Normal and tangential to orient the component vectors with the normal and the tangent of the surface you select.

        If desired, specify the Y-axis value of the tangent for the component vectors. This option enables you to enforce a uniform direction for the tangent vector when you display a series of free body cuts on view cut slices.

      • Select CSYS and a coordinate system to transform the component vectors to a custom coordinate system. Alternatively, you can click Create to create a new datum coordinate system.

      The Component resolution options affect the display of resultant forces and moments only when component vector display is selected in the Free Body Plot Options dialog box.

  6. Toggle on Show heat flow rate if available to display the heat flow rate in terms of energy per time across the view cut.
  7. If you want to customize the content and appearance of the free body cut displayed on the active view cut and those created using the Free Body toolset, click to access the Free Body Plot Options; this option is unavailable if you are defining cut-specific options. See Customizing general display options for free body cuts.
  8. Click OK.

    By default, view cuts persist only for the duration of your session. If you want to retain a view cut that you have defined to make it available in subsequent sessions, you can save it to an XML file, to a model database, or to an output database. For more information, see Managing session objects and session options.

  9. Click Apply to implement your changes.

    The view cuts change to reflect your specifications.

    By default, your changes are saved for the duration of the session and will affect all subsequent view cuts in that viewport. If you want to retain your changes for subsequent sessions, save them to a file. For more information, see Saving customizations for use in subsequent sessions.