Mass Properties and Section
Properties
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Displays the mass properties of a part or
assembly model, or the section properties of faces or sketches.
 You can assign values for mass and center
of gravity to override the calculated values. This is useful when you
create a simplified representation of a component, and want to assign
the correct mass and center of gravity to the model.
A tri-colored reference 3D triad displays
at the origin. Another triad displays at the centroid of the part or assembly
along with the mass properties and section properties. |
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Mass Properties
To display mass properties:
Select items (components or solid bodies) to be
evaluated. If no component or solid body is selected, the mass properties
for the entire assembly or multibody part are reported.
Click Mass Properties
(Tools toolbar) or Tools,
Mass Properties.
You can evaluate different
entities without closing the Mass Properties
dialog box. Clear the selections, then select the entity, and click Recalculate.
Set options as described below.
Results
The results are displayed in the Mass
Properties dialog box, and the principal axes and center of mass
are displayed graphically on the model. The moments of inertia and products
of inertia are calculated to agree with the following definitions:
The inertia tensor matrix is defined below from the moments of inertia:
Options
Output coordinate system. Select
a coordinate
system if you have defined one.
Selected items. Select items
for which you want to calculate or assign mass properties. When you add,
delete, or change items, click Recalculate
to display new values.
Include hidden bodies/components.
Select to include hidden bodies and components in the calculations.
Show output coordinate system in corner
of window. Select to display the tri-colored reference 3D triad
in the corner of the graphics area, or clear to show the triad at the
origin.
Assigned mass properties. Select
to assign values for mass and center of gravity to override the calculated
values. Under Mass properties in the
components's coordinate system, set values for the following:
Mass
Center
of gravity (X, Y,
Z)
Apply
To. If the model has more than one configuration, select one of
the following:
This configuration.
All configurations.
Specify configurations.
Options. Opens the
dialog box, to display the results using different units of measure.
Print. Prints the results directly
from this dialog box.
Copy. Copies the results to
the clipboard.
Close. Closes the dialog box.
When you save the document,
you can update the mass properties information. This enhances system performance,
since the next time you access mass properties, the system does not need
to recalculate the values (if the document is unchanged). To set this
option, click Tools, Options,
on the System Options tab, click
Performance,
and click the Update mass properties
while saving document check box.
Section Properties
You can evaluate section properties for multiple faces and sketches
that lie in parallel planes. You can evaluate different entities without
closing the Section Properties
dialog box. Clear the selections, then select the entity, and click Recalculate.
When you evaluate more than one entity, the
first selected face defines the plane for section property calculation.
To display section properties for multiple
entities:
Select any of the following that lie in parallel
planes:
one or more planar model faces
a face on a section plane
the crosshatch section face in a section view
of a drawing
a sketch (click the sketch in the FeatureManager
design tree or right-click the feature and select Edit
Sketch)
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Click Section Properties
(Tools toolbar) or Tools, Section Properties.
The results are displayed in the Section
Properties dialog box.