Show Solid Stress Plots

Form:  Element Stress Contours for Solids

Use the Home > Display > Show Solid Stress Plots command to display stresses for solids on the active window.

  1. Define a load case (or use the default DEAD or MODAL cases) and run an analysis.

  2. Click the Home > Display > Show Solid Stress Plots command to display the Element Stress Contours for Solids form. Use the form to specify the parameters for the display.

The options available for stress averaging are None for no stress averaging, At All Joints for stress averaging at all joints or over Objects & Groups for stress averaging at points selected just before plotting the plane stresses, or for stress averaging of groups selected using the Set Groups button.

If the None option is used so that the stress contours are plotted with no stress averaging at the common points, the changes in stress from element to element typically will appear abrupt. Large stress variations between elements may indicate that the model is not properly meshed and may need to be refined to properly capture the variation in stress. Therefore, use this option to determine if the model is meshed properly.

Stress averaging using the At All Joints or over Objects & Groups option tends to eliminate abrupt changes in the plot and smooths the contours. Thus, after the meshing of the model has been shown to be acceptable using the None option, the At All Joints option will give better results of the stress in the elements by averaging the stress between elements and reducing the error because of the stress on each individual element. The over Objects & Groups option should be used if a discontinuity, such as two planes meeting at an angle, is included in the model. In that case, each plane should be averaged independently using the Over Objects and Groups option. This will avoid the problem of averaging across the two planes, which would give incorrect result. The results would be incorrect because the stress along the two planes is not continuous relative to the elements' local axes.