Plotting results in a graph

[Anonymous]

Hello everybody,

I'm new to the world of Nastran In-CAD so I apologize in advance if my request sounds stupid.

I'm currently performing a FEM analysis on a component (not an assembly) which includes a solid hinge: a very flexible portion of the body that connects two more rigid parts, but everything is monolithic so no connections are needed.

What I need to do is to plot a graph where I see the value of the stress/displacement at the hinge's axis vs. the displacement assigned to one of the more rigid portions of the component (which varies from a minimum to a maximum, and represents the "external load" of the analysis); the other rigid portion is fixed.

Is it possible to do it with Nastran In-CAD 2015? Do you have any ideas how could I do this?

Thanks in advance to whoever will try to help me.

[John_Holtz · Accepted solution]

Hi Manuele,

It is not possible to do it directly in the software (plot stress versus displacement). But what you can do is the following:

1. Plot the stress.
2. Click "Copy Data to Clipboard".
3. Paste into Excel. This will give stress versus time.
4. In In-CAD, plot the displacement.
5. Click "Copy Data to Clipboard".
6. Paste into Excel. This will give displacement versus time.
7. In Excel, create a chart (graph) showing the stress versus displacement.

[Anonymous]

Hello, thank you for the reply.

That sounds like a clever way to do what I want. I just have some questions:

1- Since you are speaking of "Stress vs. Time" and "Displacement vs. Time" you mean I should do a direct transient analysis instead of linear static one?

2- What "Stress vs. Time" or "Displacement vs. Time" data will the software copy to clipboard? Because I just need those at a very precise point/line/small surface. Will it save the maximum value for every time step? Is it possible instead to extract only the value at a specific point for every time step? Or maybe the maximum along a line or on a surface.

Thank you in advance.

Best regards.

[John_Holtz]

1 - Sorry. I must have confused you with another user who was doing a direct transient analysis. I did not know that you were performing a linear static analysis.

2 - I also assumed that you were already using the "XY Plot" command in the software since you were referring to making a graph. (I am making another assumption that the 2015 version of InCAD included the XY Plot command. I am using the current version -- 2017.)

You should use the "XY Plot" command to make the graphs. It is located under the "Results" branch in the browser.

Are you using multiple subcases in your linear static analysis to adjust the magnitude of the load? If so, the XY plot does not graph the result of multiple subcases. Maybe you should use the transient stress analysis or nonlinear static so that you get a "history" of displacement versus time or step.

[Anonymous]

Hello John

How can I plot the displacements along selected entity in a nonlinear analysis?

I would like to plot the displacements in the beam's center line below. In linear static, OK, but in nonlinear I don't know how can I plot.

Thank you very much.