There are six quick scenarios available in Intact.Design. Programmed loads and restraints are placed on the object depending on which scenario you select. There are a few options you can change, but Intact.Design does most of the work for you!

Intro: The acceleration due to gravity is approximately 9.81 m/s/s or about 32.2 ft/s/s. A force is defined to be a mass times an acceleration. The acceleration is defined to be gravity and the mass is calculated from the density of the material and the volume of the part. Any object made must be able to withstand at least this amount of force. Issues tend to arise in larger, more complex structures, due to the weight and loads the supports take.
Controls: Once the material is chosen, the density and part volume defines the mass, which in turn defines the force due to gravity. Next, it is necessary to choose the “up” direction so that the correct direction of gravity can be applied. This force is then applied in the “down” direction. It is applied to the model and is NOT user defined as gravity can only act downwards. Additionally, the computer automatically restrains the “bottom” faces.
Usefulness: Often structures will be most affected by gravity. Things like bridges and buildings will contain other loads from people and vehicles, however, the most significant forces will be due to gravity.

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Intro: This is a fairly standard simulation where you press an object against the ground. A vertical force is applied originating at the top and pushing down (squashing) the model.
Controls: The user picks an “up” direction, and the program picks the bottom faces to restrain before applying the load from top to bottom. The forces are applied by the program automatically to the highest faces. It is important to note that for a chair for example, the load in this scenario would be applied to the top of the chair, not the seat (If you wish to have more control, see Advanced Scenario). To change the direction the force is coming from, change the “up” direction. The key is that the force will always point to the ground/restrained faces.
Usefulness: This scenario is good for simulating the force of an object being placed on something else. Examples could be books on a table or people on a small bridge.

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Intro: Two equivalent forces are applied to opposite ends of the model. The forces are equivalent, so they squeeze the model without moving it.
Controls: The user can change the magnitude of the forces and their orientation with respect to the faces of the yellow bounding box. The forces are defined to be equivalent. If the user wishes to change the angle of the forces, one of the sliders allows for this. The plane of rotation is normal to the “up” direction.
Important note: It is very important to realize that this scenario doesn’t actually apply two forces to the model. For every FEA (finite element analysis) program, a restraint is needed. That said, the equivalent situation to squeezing an object is to apply one of the forces and restrain the other side. The program does this by choosing a restraint based on the orientation of up. It is important to know where the restraint is, because this will impact the results in a way that may render the solution useless.

To figure out how the model will be run when you change the angle, find which force of the pair is the actual applied force and which force of the pair is really the restraint. Now, as you change the angle that the forces are applied on, this will change the angle of the restraint. So if you define +Z to be up, the initial force will be on the -X side pointing to the +X side. This means the restraint is on the +X side. When you rotate the force 90 degrees, the force will be applied on the -Y face and the restraint will be on the +Y face.
Usefulness: A squeeze scenario is slightly less common, however it can be useful for both machines and objects that get gripped by either a person or a machine.

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Intro: One force acting on the side of the model. This is a very general scenario with many applications.
Controls: The “up” axis is defined by the user with the bottom faces being automatically restrained. The user has the option of changing the angle the force is applied. The angle rotates the force about the “up” axis. Changing the “up” axis allows the force to be applied in different directions.
Usefulness: This scenario applies whenever you try to slide something on the ground. Various supports and structures need to be able to take a certain amount of wind, which can be modeled as a pushing force.

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Intro: This scenario applies torques to opposite sides of the model. This causes the model to either elongate or bend, depending on the application.
Controls: The torques are defined to be equivalent. The user has the ability to switch the direction of the applied torque on the same face (clockwise vs counterclockwise) as well as change the faces that you can apply the torque to. As with the other scenarios, the rotational axis is the “up” direction. The difference is that the user is only able to apply the torque to the faces of the yellow cube. If it is desired to apply a torque to the third pair of faces, the user can simply change the “up” direction. For the restraints, the program chooses several of the faces near the centerline (as defined by the two faces the torques are applied to). This is done automatically, so there is no way to change the orientation of the constraints with respect to the loads.
Usefulness: Bending occurs in many straight, long members like trusses on a bridge. In any situation where a load is not symmetrically distributed or if the restraints aren’t symmetric, there will be a torque caused, and it may be possible to use this scenario.

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Intro: Twisting is when a rotating force (a torque) is applied to one of the object’s faces.
Controls: For this scenario, you apply a single torque to the “up” face. As with the other scenarios, to change the face the torque is applied to, change the “up” direction. To change the direction of the torque (clockwise vs counterclockwise), adjust the scale. The restraint is defined to be the opposite side of the applied torque.
Usefulness: This can apply to anything that spins. Examples include opening a jar, screwing a screw, or opening a doorknob. The twist scenario covers these situations.

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• Simple Simulation 1: Gravity
• Simple Simulation 2: Squash
• Simple Simulation 3: Squeeze
• Simple Simulation 4: Push
• Simple Simulation 5: Bend
• Simple Simulation 6: Twist

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