Mechanica Force Units

[kerklein2]

I am trying to run a beam deflection analysis in mechanica and have confused the hell out of myself with the force units. The units specified when creating a force is in-lbm/sec^2. How does this convert to good ole pounds-force? At first I thought it was just a factor of 12 to convert feet to inches, but then I think you need to add in the gravitational constant of 32 also so that 200lbf=76800in-lbm/sec^2. Can I get some insight before I confuse myself even more?

 

[Shaumack]

You can either go into Standard mode and convert units to IPS instead of Pro/E default and you do not have to worry about anything. Pro/E default uses pound-mass instead of Pound-force. Else just to convert lbf into lbm in/sec^2 multiply by acceleration due to gravity i.e 386.4 in/sec^2 and not 32 ft/sec^2

 

[ghgarzon]

Yes, I agree, use IPS or N mm sec and you'll never be confused again.

 

[mneal]

I typically use IPS and then the resultant stress is in PSI.