FEM tutorial

Introduction
This tutorial is meant to introduce the reader to the basic workflow of the FEM Workbench, as well as most of the tools that are available to perform a static analysis.

Requirements

 * FreeCAD version 0.16 or above
 * Netgen and/or GMSH is installed on the system
 * In the case of GMSH, installing psicofil's macro is recommended
 * Calculix is installed on the system
 * The reader has the basic knowledge to use the Part and PartDesign Workbenches

Modeling
In this example a Cube is used as the study object, but models created in the Part or PartDesign Workbenches can used instead.


 * 1) Create a new document
 * 2) Activate the Part Workbench
 * 3) Create a Box

Now we have a model with which to work with.

Meshing the model

 * 1) Switch to the FEM Workbench

GMSH
The usage of psicofil's macro is recommended, and is used for this example.
 * 1) Activate the macro
 * 2) Select the object you wish to use, in this case our Box
 * 3) Check the box to Create a New Analysis from Mesh
 * 4) Click OK

We have now meshed our object and are ready to add constraints and forces.

Constraints and Forces

 * 1) Hide the mesh from the Tree View.
 * 2) Show the original model