2D Finite Element Analysis (FEA)

The Free Body Diagram (FBD) and deformed mesh are shown below.

The shear and moment diagrams are shown below. The standard sign conventions for shear-moment diagrams are followed:

• Shear: Positive shear causes clockwise rotation of the beam, negative shear causes counter-clockwise rotation.
• Moment: Positive moment will compress the top of the beam and elongate the bottom of the beam (i.e. make the beam 'smile').

The stress plots are shown below.

The displacement plots are shown below. The sign convention for displacements is:

• X: Positive to right, negative to left
• Y: Positive up, negative down
• Rotation: Right hand rule (positive counterclockwise, negative clockwise)

The plot below shows the mesh with the element numbers labeled:

Nodal Results

Below are the results for each node. There are several things to note:

• Certain nodes are associated with points, and for those nodes the number of the associated point is given.
• All nodes associated with points are listed first, followed by nodes which were created as part of the meshing process.
• External reactions may exist for constrained degrees of freedom. Any nodes which do not have constraints will not have external reactions.

Elemental Results

Below are the results for each element. There are several things to note:

• Every element consists of 2 nodes. Within the table, these nodes are referred to as "Node 1" and "Node 2".
• The internal reactions are given in terms of the global coordinate system (i.e. X and Y) as well as the local coordinate system (i.e. "axial" along the axis of the element, "shear" perpendicular to the element).

Download Results to Excel

Download an Excel file to your computer containing the nodal results and elemental results.