Element Forces (Vector Plot)

1D element forces and moments are supported as vectors and can be plotted using the Vector panel in HyperView.

This functionality is available for the .op2 and .xdb files. Element force and moment data is requested using the ELFORCE or FORCE case control command in Nastran and OptiStruct.

To use this functionality, load the model and results files with the Advanced Result-Math template in HyperView.


Figure 1.
In the Vector panel, select 1D Element Forces (v) or 1D Element Moments (v) result types and click Apply to visualize the vector plot. The corresponding forces or moments vectors will plot at the centroid of 1D elements.


Figure 2.

The 1D Element Forces (v) and 1D Element Moments (v) result types contain X, Y, Z, and magnitude components for all supported 1D element types, which allows plotting force results of multiple element types at the same time.

Supported Element Types

The supported element types and their corresponding component mapping information for forces and moments are listed below:
Table 1. CBAR
CBAR (Force) Component Result Mapped
  X Axial Force
  Y Shear Plane 1
  Z Shear Plane 2
CBAR (Moment) Component Result Mapped
  X Torque
  Y Bending Plane 2

Average of End-A & End-B
  Z Bending Plane 1

Average of End-A & End-B
Table 2. CBEAM
CBEAM (Force) Component Result Mapped
  X Axial Force

Average of GA & GB
  Y Shear Plane 1

Average of GA & GB
  Z Shear Plane 2

Average of GA & GB
CBEAM (Moment) Component Result Mapped
  X Torque

Average of GA & GB
  Y Bending Plane 2

Average of GA & GB
  Z Bending Plane 1

Average of GA & GB
Table 3. CROD
CROD (Force) Component Result Mapped
  X Axial Force
  Y -
  Z -
CROD (Moment) Component Result Mapped
  X Torque
  Y -
  Z -
Table 4. CBUSH
CBUSH (Force) Component Result Mapped
  X Force-X
  Y Force-Y
  Z Force-Z
CBUSH (Moment) Component Result Mapped
  X Moment-X
  Y Moment-Y
  Z Moment-Z
Table 5. CGAP
CGAP (Force) Plotted F06
  X Comp-X
  Y Shear-Y
  Z Shear-Z
CGAP (Moment) Plotted F06
  X -
  Y -
  Z -
Table 6. CWELD
CWELD (Force) Component Result Mapped
  X Axial Force FX
  Y Shear Plane 1 FY
  Z Shear Plane 2 FZ
CWELD (Moment) Component Result Mapped
  X Torque MX
  Y Bending Plane 2 MY

Average of End-A & End-B
  Z Bending Plane 1 MZ

Average of End-A & End-B
Table 7. CFAST
CFAST (Force) Component Result Mapped
  X Force - X
  Y Force - Y
  Z Force - Z
CFAST (Moment) Component Result Mapped
  X Moment - X
  Y Moment - Y
  Z Moment - Z