Objective: Use the FBD Loads calculated by the Section Cut tool at incremental intervals along the length of a structure to verify each FEM load case with a shear/moment diagram.
Creating a Section Cut involves selecting elements along a particular plane to define the section boundaries. This operation is initiated from the Structure tab of the Ribbon, and can be completed in several different ways. See Section Cut Creation.
The Section Cut Loads form is launched directly from the Section Cut editor.
Use the radial buttons and dropdown menu to view the section loads for each Design Load Case and safety factor combination. The loads corresponding to the selected scenario will be displaced in the 'Load Dependent Properties' section. These forces and moments are based on the contribution of force vectors from all elements that cross the section-cut plane.
The Section Cut Loads for ALL load-case-and-safety-factor combinations can be exported to Excel:
This data can be extracted for as many locations as the user needs, for all load cases. Plotting the different shear and moment values with respect to location will result in shear and moment diagrams. These diagrams are useful for verifying FEA loads and general engineering sanity checks.
Note
As of version 2025.1.4, you can quickly view and export loads for multiple Section Cuts with one click.