19.3.1.15. Beam Tool

You can apply a Beam Tool to any assembly in order to view the linearized stresses on beam (line) bodies. It is customary in beam design to employ components of axial stress that contribute to axial loads and bending in each direction separately. Therefore, the stress outputs (which are linearized stresses) associated with beam bodies have been focused toward that design goal.

The Beam Tool is similar to the Contact Tool in that the tool, not the results themselves control the scoping. By default, the scoping is to all beam bodies. You can change the scoping in the Details, if desired.

Requirements and Limitations

  • The Beam Tool is intended for beam models that feature structural results.

  • The Beam Tool does not support bending or combined stress results when scoped to a geometry that:

    • Includes a User Integrated cross-section.

    • Includes a user-defined cross-section where the Cross Section (For Solver) property is set to Pre-Integrated. To obtain stress results, set the Cross Section (For Solver) property to Mesh.

    • Originates from the Discovery Eurocode Library.

  • The Beam Tool is not supported for Modal, Harmonic Response, Eigenvalue Buckling, Random Vibration, Response Spectrum, Rigid Dynamics, or Structural Optimization analyses.

  • The Beam Tool is not available to the ABAQUS AUTODYN, LSDYNA, or Samcef solvers.

Using the Beam Tool

To insert a Beam Tool, highlight the Solution object then select Beam Tool from the Toolbox drop-down menu. Three beam stress results are included under the Beam Tool object: Direct Stress, Minimum Combined Stress, and Maximum Combined Stress. You can add additional beam stress results or deformation results by highlighting the Beam Tool object and choosing the particular result from the Beam Tool Context tab. As an alternative, you can right-click the Beam Tool and select Insert > Beam Tool > [desired result].

To insert a Beam Tool, highlight the Solution object and then select Beam Tool from the Toolbox drop-down menu. By default, the Beam Tool object includes three beam stress results: Direct Stress, Minimum Combined Stress, and Maximum Combined Stress. These results correspond to the user-defined result expressions BEAMDIRECT, BEAMMIN_COMBINED, and BEAMMAX_COMBINED, respectively. You can add additional beam stress results or deformation results by highlighting the Beam Tool object and choosing the particular result from the Beam Tool Context tab. As an alternative, you can right-click the Beam Tool and select Insert > Beam Tool > [desired result].

Beam Stress Result Definitions

The Beam Tool provides the following beam stress results:

  • Direct Stress (BEAMDIRECT): The stress component due to the axial load encountered in a beam element.

  • Minimum Bending Stress (BEAMMIN_BENDING): From any bending loads a bending moment in both the local Y and Z directions will arise. This leads to the following four bending stresses: Y bending stress on top/bottom and Z bending stress on top/bottom. Minimum Bending Stress is the minimum of these four bending stresses.

  • Maximum Bending Stress (BEAMMAX_BENDING): The maximum of the four bending stresses described under Minimum Bending Stress.

  • Minimum Combined Stress (BEAMMIN_COMBINED): The linear combination of the Direct Stress and the Minimum Bending Stress.

  • Maximum Combined Stress (BEAMMAX_COMBINED): The linear combination of the Direct Stress and the Maximum Bending Stress.

Caution:

  • Be cautious when adding Beam Tool results to the Solutions Combination object. As stated above, the Beam Tool minimum and maximum results can originate from one of four different physical locations. As a result, the application could add solution results from different physical locations. For this reason, carefully review stress results used with the Solutions Combination feature.

  • Beam Tool results characterize the elastic behavior of a beam body only. You must be keenly aware of this when interpreting Beam Tool results on beam bodies whose material behaviors may become nonlinear. Large discrepancy can exist between the linearized Beam Tool results and the actual material stresses obtained from nonlinear constitutive relationships. Review the BEAM188, BEAM189, PIPE288, and PIPE289 element descriptions for more information.

  • For the Maximum Bending Stress and Minimum Bending Stress result types, the application compares the Y & Z bending stresses on the top and bottom of the beam. These four basic bending stresses are contained in the local element coordinate system. They are not rotated to any other coordinate system prior to calculation.

Beta Feature: Currently, when you activate the Beta Option from the Workbench Project page (Tools > Options > Appearance ), two new expressions are generated in the Worksheet: BEAMMIX_TOTAL_COMBINED and BEAMMAX_TOTAL_COMBINED. These expressions enable you to create a User Defined Result for the linear combination of the Direct Stress and the sum of the minimum/maximum Y bending stress and minimum/maximum Z bending stress (Total Minimum Combined Stress and Total Maximum Combined Stress).