To Define Preferences for Force Balance Analysis
For this procedure you must be on the Preferences tab of the Analysis Definition dialog box and have selected Force balance under Type.
1. Click
![](../../../simulate/mech_des/images/mech_connect.png)
. The number of degrees of freedom are displayed.
2. Decrease the DOF to 0 as follows:
◦ Click
![](../../../simulate/mech_des/images/mech_lockbody.png)
and select a lead body, then a set of follower bodies to be locked. The follower bodies stay fixed relative to the lead body during the analysis.
◦ Click
![](../../../simulate/mech_des/images/mech_lock_connection.png)
and select a connection. The connection's allowed movements are locked during the analysis.
◦ Click
![](../../../simulate/mech_des/images/mech_disable_joint.png)
and select a connection to be disabled.
◦ Click
![](../../../simulate/mech_des/images/mech_loadpnt_constraint.png)
to create a loadcell lock.
3. The name of the locked or disabled connection appears in the Locked entities list.
| Tip: Click ![](../../../simulate/mech_des/images/tb_delete.png) to delete unwanted locking or disabling constraints from the list. |
4. Check the degrees of freedom as described in step 1 after applying each constraint until you reach 0 DOF.
5. If you want the analysis to use the current configuration, click Current under Initial configuration.
6. If you want to use a previously created snapshot for the initial condition, click Snapshot under Initial configuration, and select a snapshot from the list.
7. Click
![](../../../simulate/mech_des/images/cl_preview.png)
to view the configuration.