The Direct Finite Element (FE) menu contains options that allow you to apply boundary conditions directly to the nodes on the finite element mesh of a model. These boundary conditions are scoped via node-based Named Selections. They differ from geometry based boundary conditions in the fact that they are applied directly to the nodes during solution calculations whereas geometry-based boundary conditions are applied through special loading elements such as SURF, CONTAC, or FOLLW201 elements.

These boundary conditions are applied in the Nodal Coordinate System (except Nodal Pressure). Direct FE boundary conditions cannot be applied to nodes that are already scoped with geometry-based constraints which may modify the Nodal Coordinate system.