Free Body Diagram: Why is it useful in FEA?

If you are tackling static* problems with FEA, there is a basic tool that will help you a lot: The Free Body Diagram (FBD).

If you are trying to analyze static mechanisms, you probably heard this name before…

But do you know what it is and how it actually works?

That’s what this article is all about!

*Note: The Free Body Diagram can also be used to analyze dynamic problems if you introduce translational and rotational accelerations and velocities in your model.

What is the Free Body Diagram? Quick explanation

Mechanical systems tend to be composed of several parts or structural elements connected together in some way.

The problem is that it may over-complexity the analysis if you consider all that from the start!

That’s why engineers have found an easy way to conceptualize the structure in which all connecting parts have been removed: The Free Body Diagram

This Free Body Diagram is a useful tool in FEA analysis as I will show you in this article

How do you draw a Free Body Diagram?

Instead of considering the real physical shape of a part, a single line or a rectangle replaces it. Nodes with certain properties or set of forces and moments represent each connection.

Nodes with certain properties or set of forces and moments represent each connection. External force vectors replace as well internal forces that exist in the system.

We then draw vectors that reflect the magnitude of the force and orient them in the direction the force is acting to have a clearer understanding of the system.

Example: Drawing the Free Body Diagram of a Beam

Read the full article on my blog feaforall here

https://feaforall.com/free-body-diagram-fea/