Mass of structure in kg calculation

Dear all,

I wonder how I can calculate the weight itself of a structure into the Analyse component.

All the beams are of steel (I use MatSelect). I assembled the all beams. The Assemble component have a Mass output which gives a number.

Can I use the gravity load and the mass value and feed it into the load?

thanks

Jörg

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Karamba3D on November 8, 2011 at 10:18am

Dear Jörg,

it may seem a little bit theoretical but mass and weight are not the same. Weight is mass times acceleration of gravity and depends on the planet you happen to be on. Mass is material density times volume.

The mass value that comes out of the Assmble-component enables you to assess what your structure approximately costs (e.g. very roughly for steel: kg x 5EUR).

If you want to switch on gravity for a certain load case use the GravityLoad-component and set the acceleration of gravity according to your needs. A vector of length one corresponds to gravity on earth.

Best regards,

Clemens

Permalink Reply by Joerg Guettgemanns on November 9, 2011 at 2:01am