How to See Displacements in Structural Simulations?

This article explains the procedure to visualize the displacements of geometry parts in FEA simulations within SimScale’s online post-processor.

Solution

In finite element analysis (FEA), the parts of our geometries will usually move. This can be due to loads, translation, rotation, vibration, or thermal effects.

In the post-processor, a visual representation of displacements is disabled by default. Users can enable it at any time by following the steps shown in Figure 1:

1. In the post-processing environment, select Results;
2. A new tab with parameters opens up. Head over to the displacement tab, named DIS;
3. Simply enable displacement and it will be visible in the viewer.

As an example, here’s a wing structure subjected to pressure from bottom to top:

The user can also apply a scale factor to see the displacements more clearly. To do so, follow the steps from the figure below:

1. After enabling displacement, click on DIS: displacement, located just under Results;
2. A tab with options will open up. Use the sliding bar to adjust the scale factor. This way, the user can either damp or amplify the visual representation of displacements.

It’s also possible to combine the visualization of displacements with the animations filter. This is particularly useful for nonlinear static, dynamic and harmonic analysis types.

Find below an example of animation from a sheet metal stamping simulation. The displacements from the press and the sheet metal are shown:

For more information about the post-processing of finite element analysis simulations, make sure to check out the following pages:

• Tutorial: Post-Processing Solid Mechanics Simulations
• Sheet Metal Stamping Process Simulation