Beam element sensor

The Beam element sensor  can be added by right-clicking on the desired element and toggle the sensor on, as shown in the picture below:





  • The fields of the Beam element sensor are given in the Element coordinate system  (see Coordinate systems )
  • The moments along the principal axes are different at the two nodes defining the element. Therefore, two moments, noted i  and j , are given for each principal axis


The figure below shows an example of how to interpret the Moment  output around the principal axes and at the different nodes defining the element. In this example, the output analyzed is the Moment (1st principal axis), i . 
  • Right-clicking on the element opens a pop-up window with information about this element. The top of this window shows which nodes are connected to the element and how tey are names. In this example, node i  of the element corresponds to node 13   of the tubular tower.
  • In the  Display settings , it is possible to enable the visualization of the Element Coordinate system (see Coordinate systems  for more info). The axes defining the element coordinate system are then displayed, with red, green and blue colors corresponding to the axial, the 1 st  principal and the 2 nd  principal axes respectively. In the present example, the 1 st   principal axis  is horizontal and perpendicular to the wind (aligned with the global x-axis), as seen in the figure. Note that to facilitate the visualization of the element axes, in this example the wireframe mode has been selected (in the top ribbon of the  Simulation window ). 





The Beam Element sensor provides the following fields
Field Unit Description
Axial force kN Force along the element axis
Shear force (1 st principal axis) kN Shear force along the 1 st principal axis
Shear force (2 nd principal axis) kN Shear force along the 2 nd principal axis
Shear force, mag. kN Magnitude of the shear force
Torque kNm Moment around the axial direction of the element
Moment (1 st prin. axis), i kNm Moment around the 1 st principal axis at node i
Moment (2 nd prin. axis), i kNm Moment around the 2 nd principal axis at node i
Moment, mag., i kNm Magnitude of the moment at node i
Moment (1 st prin. axis), j kNm Moment around the 1 st principal axis at node j
Moment (2 nd prin. axis), j kNm Moment around the 2 nd principal axis at node j
Moment, mag., j kNm Magnitude of the moment at node j
Total force (i) kN 3-component vector representing the force
Max normal stress MPa Maximum stress in the direction parallel to the axis of the element
Twist (structural) deg The twist of the frame element compared to its inital twist due to rotational deformation (see Frame element twist )
Twist (structural) - rad rad Same as above, in radians
Deformed length m Current length of the element, taking account the deformations
Elongation - ratio of the deformed length over the initial length
Strain energy J
Kinetic energy J
Mechanical energy J
Deformational rotation (i) deg
Deformational rotation (j) deg
Deformational rotation (axial) deg
Deformational rotation (1 st prin.) deg
Deformational rotation (2 nd prin.) deg
Deformational rotation (i) - rad rad
Deformational rotation (j) - rad rad
Deformational rotation (axial) - rad rad
Deformational rotation (1st prin.) - rad rad
Deformational rotation (2nd prin.) - rad rad
Damping force, i kN
Damping moment, i kNm
Damping force, sum kN
Damping moment, sum kNm

Note:  the output Max normal stress  and Max shear stress  are only displayed for elements whose cross-section has a known geometry. For the default blades for example, only the outer shape of the blade elements (i.e. the geometry of the airfoils) is known, whereas the internal structure of the blade is now known. Therefore it is not possible to calculate the maximum stresses for blade elements.