You can use the free body options for view cuts to customize how the free body cut displayed on the active view cut is calculated and to customize its summation point and coordinate system transformation. Abaqus/CAE can calculate the resultant force and moment by cutting through the current display group or by cutting through the whole model. Calculating these values by cutting through the current display group provides greater flexibility—for example, you can calculate the total resultant force and moment over four specific locations in your model by including them all in the display group—but the free body cut will display data only when the view cut and the display group intersect.
You can also customize the content and appearance of all free body cuts in the current viewport; see “Customizing general display options for free body cuts,” Section 64.5.1.
To customize free body display on the active view cut:
From the main menu bar, select Options
View Cut.
The View Cut Options dialog box appears.
Tip:
You can also use the view cut manager to customize the cut options. From the main menu bar, select ToolsView CutManager, and click Options in the view cut manager.
Click the Free Body tab.
From the Computation based on options:
Select Cutting through the current display group to compute resultant force and moment based on a view cut through the current display group.
Select Cutting through the whole model to compute resultant force and moment based on a view cut through the entire model.
If desired, customize the summation point or the coordinate system transformation options for the selected free body cut.
From the Summation point options, select the three-dimensional location from which the vectors in the free body cut originate.
Select Centroid of cut to place the summation point automatically at the centroid of the surface of the view cut.
Select User-defined, and specify a custom three-dimensional location in space.
From the Component resolution options, you can specify the coordinate system transformation that takes place when vectors are displayed in component form. (See “Customizing general display options for free body cuts,” Section 64.5.1, for more information about displaying force and moment vectors in component form.)
Select Normal and tangential to orient the component vectors with the normal and the tangent of the surface you select.
Select CSYS and a coordinate system to transform the component vectors to a custom coordinate system.
The Component resolution options affect the display of free body cuts only when component vector display is selected in the Free Body Plot Options dialog box.
If you want to customize the content and appearance of the free body cuts in the viewport—both the free body cut displayed on the active view cut and those created using the Free Body toolset—click Free Body Plot Options. See “Customizing general display options for free body cuts,” Section 64.5.1.