I am using Abaqus to simulate a plate with in-plane loading. The boundary conditions allow the right edge to move up and down, the displacements on the left edge are fixed. There is no rotation possible on the right and the left edge. The plate is loaded by the displacement of the right edge. I will attach a picture of the deformed plate.
My goal is to calculate the force that is necessary to deform the plate.
I have summed up the reaction forces of all the nodes on the left edge. Then I had a look at the force components of a Free Body Cut at position zero (left edge). The sum of the reaction Force (in y-direction) does not match the Free Body Cut force (in y-direction). The difference is huge.
So my question is: How does Abaqus calculate the reaction force? How is it possible, that the force calculated by a Free Body Cut (at position zero) deviates from the reaction force? Does there not have to be an equilibrium of forces in y-direction?
I would be very glad if someone can help!
Thank you
Dear Alina Faerber,
In Free Body Cut Manager select Edit...->2D element edges method and manually pick edges from viewport using Shift+LeftClick. Create two different free body cuts (for left and right edges). Resultant reaction forces on both edges should be equal and have opposite directions. Moreover, sums of nodal reactions should be equal to corresponding resultant reactions.
Dear Victor J. Аdlucky ,
Thank you for the quick answer. You are right, the resultant reaction force on the right edge and on the left edge is identical. But if I use the nodal output "RF" and sum the values of all nodes on the left edge, I get a different value. I attach a picture to show you what I mean. (I used big element size, so it is more clear, but I have the same issue with small element size)
Dear Alina Faerber, Abaqus is reliable package, so I think you did something wrong. Your RF values have order e+07 while the resultant reaction force is much lower. I still suggest to use 2D element edges method.
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