A central steel loading tool pushes a hollow aluminium profile down between two supports. Explore how the beam deforms, where plastic strain develops, and how the required load changes as the imposed displacement increases.
The simulation
This CalculiX model includes large deformation, aluminium plasticity, and surface-to-surface penalty contact with steel tools. The loading tool follows a prescribed displacement ramp up to 20 mm. Playback follows 52 saved equilibrium states; positions and exported fields are interpolated smoothly between them.
Select Equivalent plastic strain to inspect the distribution of accumulated plastic deformation, or Von Mises stress to inspect the stress field. The colour range updates at each frame, so compare the numerical legend as well as the colours.
Full beam or solved quarter
The source mesh represents one quarter of the assembly. Full beam reflects it across the x = 0 and y = 0 symmetry planes to show the complete beam and tools. Turn this option off to inspect the portion actually solved. The displayed node and cell counts refer to that original mesh.
The reflected geometry follows the same solution and assumes symmetry remains valid. Use True scale ×1 for the saved displacement, or adjust the scale to make deformation easier to inspect; amplification does not recalculate stresses or contact.
Reading the load–displacement curve
The gold curve shows the recorded nonlinear FEA response. Its marker follows the animation. Displacement is the imposed loading ramp, 20 × step time in mm; full-specimen force is −4 × the summed vertical loading reaction / 1000 in kN. This force convention stays the same in both geometry views.
The magenta line reproduces the supplied theoretical elastic range: 45.974 kN at 1.90476 mm, corresponding to a stiffness of approximately 24.136 kN/mm. It is a theoretical reference, not a separate elastic FE simulation. The nonlinear curve’s departure from it combines plasticity, changing geometry, and contact effects; this comparison alone cannot separate their contributions.