When conducting frame analysis studies, you can tailor portions of a model, to allow a more efficient analysis.
When you analyze frame assemblies, you can exclude beams, custom nodes, and boundary conditions that you do not want to be included in your simulation. Select Suppress in the context menu to exclude desired objects from simulation.
Material properties define the structural characteristics of each beam for a simulation. Each simulation can have a different set of materials for any beam.
You can change the default material of individual beams in the Beam Material dialog box.
Styles and Standards
The Inventor materials are managed with the Styles and Standards Editor. You can modify existing materials or create new ones. When you create or modify materials, be careful to assign the correct material characteristics.
Frame Analysis browser
In the Frame Analysis browser, there is a Materials folder in which you find a list of all materials that override other materials. For example, if you have a Copper component, and override the Copper with Steel, there is a unique node for Steel. The Steel node contains nodes for each beam using that material.
Beam Properties are based on the Frame Generator assembly data, but they can be customized for the simulation.
Select a beam in the browser, right-click, and select Beam Properties. Or, click Properties in the Beams panel on the ribbon.
Frame Analysis browser
In the Frame Analysis browser, there is a Sections folder in which you find a list of all sections that override other sections.
Structural constraints restrict or limit the displacement of the model.
All constraints use Heads Up Display and grips to define the inputs easily. More complex settings are available in the dialog boxes.
Types of structural constraints for frame analysis are:
| Fixed |
Removes all degrees of freedom. |
| Pinned | Removes displacement degrees of freedom in a node specified. |
| Floating |
Removes displacement degrees of freedom in a specific direction in a node of the structure. |
To display the reaction force information, run the simulation and then right-click a constraint in the Frame Analysis browser, and select Reactions.
Structural loads are forces applied to a beam or node during operation. Such loads cause stresses, deformations, and displacements in components.
In product design, it is important to know how your product reacts under normal and excessive working conditions. Know how to determine the response your product has to these loads, and build in an appropriate safety factor. Important aspects of your design include load magnitude, frequency of occurrence, distribution, and nature (static or dynamic). If you can visualize how your product responds to loads, you can control your designs better.
The types of structural loads available are:
You can customize the beam model by adding nodes, define releases and rigid links.
You can add nodes to selected beams.
Assign release of specified degrees of freedom to a selected structure.
Define a rigid link between parent node and one or more child nodes in a frame structure.