Export Load Collectors

Export FBD, Displacement, and/or Resultant Force and Moment load collectors generated by other FBD utilities.

1. From the menu bar, click Post > Free Body.
   The FBD Export Manager tab opens.
2. Use the Element set selector to specify the set for which you want to export data.
3. To display the entire model in transparency mode, highlighting the currently selected element set for review, select the Show model checkbox.
4. Choose the results type to export.

   This populates the list of loadsteps. Click the one(s) that you wish to export to highlight them; use <Ctrl>-click or <Shift>-click to select multiple results.

   If you choose FBD Displacements or Resultant Force and Moment as the result type, an additional list of node sets displays. Select the desired node sets in the same fashion as the loadsteps.

5. Click add to export to add the highlighted results to the export batch.
6. Define export options.
   1. To create loadsteps upon export, select the Create appropriate loadsteps checkbox and then click the open-folder button in the Output file text box.

      This opens a standard file browser window that you can use to browse to the desired destination directory and either select an existing file, or type in a name for a new one.

      This option will also create SUBTITLE and LABEL cards if they are available from the loadstep information within the currently selected results file.

   2. Select the Results type to determine how loadsteps are created.
      • Choose FBD Forces – All Loads to create a SUBCASE with LOAD = assigned to the "FBDF_E(#)_S(#)_C" load collector which references the LOAD card pointing to each component "FBDF_E(#)_S(#)_(compID)" load collector for the selected loadstep.
      • Choose FBD Displacements to create a SUBCASE with SPC = assigned to the "FBDD_E(#)_N(#)_S(#)_Disp" load collector for the selected loadstep.
        • If the SPCD option was enabled when creating FBD Displacement loads, LOAD = will also be assigned to the "FBDD_E(#)_N(#)_S(#)_SPCD" load collector for the selected loadstep.
        • If multiple node sets are selected for export the following will occur:

      An SPCADD load collector will be created and the appropriate "FBDD_E(#)_N(#)_S(#)_Disp" load collectors will be assigned to it. The SPC = will reference the newly created SPCADD load collector.

      If the SPCD checkbox was selected when creating the FBD Displacement loads, a LOAD load collector will be created and the appropriate "FBDD_E(#)_N(#)_S(#)_SPCD" load collectors will be assigned to it. The LOAD = will reference the newly created LOAD load collector.

      If FBD Force and FBD Displacement load collectors from the same loadstep are selected for export, you are prompted to select one or the other from which to create the loadstep.

7. Choose a command.
   • Click Export to execute the export process, meaning that clicking it:
     • Turns off the display of all currently displayed elements
     • Creates temporary mass elements on the nodes where the selected FBD, Displacement, and/or Resultant Force and Moment loads are displayed
     • Exports the model with the "displayed" option
     • Deletes the temporary mass elements from the current model
     • Removes unnecessary header information from the output file
   • Click Reset to clear all of the export criteria so that you can start over.