MechDesigner will calculate force vectors that act on Parts. There must be a minimum of one kinematically-defined chain and one Part with Mass and Inertia properties.
Each Part in your model has three sources of Mass and Inertia: those that are defined by the properties of a Profile/ Extrusion, those that you specify explicitly for a Part, and those you import with a SolidWorks part document.
Force elements
Use Force elements to calculate and show the Force vectors that act on joints and the machine elements in your model. You also to Configure the Power Source to flow between kinematic and machine elements.
On-line Tutorial: Tutorial 13: Forces Introduction
Force sub-menu
The Force menu is a sub-menu to the Add menu.
Force toolbar
The Force toolbar is to the right-side of the graphic-area.
FORCE |
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Action of its surroundings on a body tending to change its state of rest or motion. |
LINE OF ACTION OF A FORCE |
The line along which the vector that represents a given force lies. |
MAGNITUDE OF A FORCE |
Number of units of force obtained by comparing a given force with a standard, taken as unit force. |
ACTIVE [APPLIED] FORCE |
Force capable of producing motion. |
REACTION |
Force arising in a constraint and acting upon a constrained body due to the action of an active force upon that body. |
CENTRIPETAL FORCE |
Force causing the centripetal acceleration of a particle. |
INERTIA FORCE |
Product of the mass of a particle and the negative of its acceleration. Following D'Alembert, the inertia force can be regarded as being in equilibrium with the resultant of all the forces acting on the particle. |
CENTRIFUGAL FORCE |
Inertia force of a particle moving uniformly along a circular path. |
CORIOLIS FORCE |
Inertia force equal to the product of the mass of a particle and the negative of its Coriolis component of acceleration. |
GRAVITATIONAL FORCE |
Force equal to the product of the mass of a particle and the Gravitational Acceleration on Earth - taken as 9.806m/s/s. |
We calculate those Forces that result from these Accelerations, in particular :
CORIOLIS ACCELERATION |
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Component of the absolute acceleration of a point due to its velocity relative to a rotating frame of reference. It equals twice the vector product of the angular velocity of the moving frame of reference and the relative velocity of the given moving point. |
CENTRIPETAL ACCELERATION |
Acceleration of a point towards the center of curvature of its path as it moves along a fixed curve. |
TANGENTIAL ACCELERATION |
Component of acceleration of a point collinear with its velocity. |
NORMAL ACCELERATION |
Component of acceleration of a point normal to its velocity. |
ANGULAR ACCELERATION |
Rate of change of angular velocity with respect to time. |