Enforced Displacements

Enforced displacements are used when you don't know the magnitude of a force applied to a part, but you do know how much the part displaces as a result of that force.



Apply an Enforced Displacement

  1. On the Structures ribbon, select the Enforced Displacements tool.


  2. Click the point on the model where you want to apply the enforced displacement. Hold the Ctrl key to apply the enforced displacement to multiple features on the same part.
  3. Define the magnitude of the displacement.
    • Click and drag the orange arrow.
    • Enter a value in the text field of the microdialog.
  4. To reverse the direction of the enforced displacement, click the +/- button on the microdialog.
  5. Right-click and mouse through the check mark to exit, or double-right-click.
Tip:
  • Enforced displacements essentially act as a force, and can be applied to a point, edge, or face. When applied to a hole, they are applied to the hole center rather than the face.
  • Whenever possible, enforced displacements should only be applied to non-design spaces. Once created, you can move an enforced displacement away from the part to place it at a distance using the Move tool on the microdialog.
  • Use the right-click context menu to include or exclude an enforced displacement from a load case.

Microdialog Options

Double-click on an enforced displacement arrow to enter editing mode, which opens a microdialog.



 Change the direction of the enforced displacement.


Enter a magnitude of the enforced displacement.


Click the icon to enter/exit Multi-Selection mode. In this mode, you can click a feature to add/remove it from the selection. Outside of this mode, you need to hold down Ctrl while clicking.


Translate or rotate the enforced displacement using the Move tool.


Align the enforced displacement to an axis or normal to the face.


Click to orient the enforced displacement by entering component vectors for x, y, and z. (For example, entering 1, 0, 0 would orient it in the positive x direction.)

Mouse Controls and Keyboard Shortcuts

Ctrl Apply the enforced displacement to multiple features on the same part.
Right-click and mouse through the check mark to exit, or double-right-click. Exit the tool.