How to output stress at element centroid

1

Hey,

I just want to know how we can output stress at element centroid in Calculix.
Thanks!!

2

There’s no such output available in CalculiX. Field output (.frd files) contains nodal averaged stresses while history output (.dat files) contains their integration point values which are the most accurate. You would need some additional postprocessing (e.g. in ParaView or using a custom script) to get the stresses at other locations.

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3

The C3D8R element has a single integration point in the center of the element. So of you use *EL PRINT with the key S, you would get the stress in the center.

For other solid elements I would suggest averaging the stresses in the integration points. You’d have to write a program to read the .dat file and average the stresses for each element; it is not too difficult.