Defining the Gravity of Mechanisms

You can define the gravitational acceleration of a mechanism during its simulation.


Before you begin: Create a mechanism.
Note: A Gravity element is created automatically under the Globals node of the mechanism.
  1. To edit the gravity of a mechanism, in the tree, do one of the following:
    • Double-click the Gravity element included under the Globals node of the mechanism.
    • Select the Gravity element and, from the contextual menu, click Edit Feature.
  2. To modify the direction of the gravity:
    1. Click Direction Picker .
    2. In the work area, select a geometry element.

      You can select a point, a line, a surface, or an axis from a body reference marker.

      The gravity arrow displayed in the top-right corner of the work area is updated.
      Note: The direction of the gravity is also represented by an orange arrow on the model.
    3. Optional: To reverse the direction of the gravity, click.

      Tip: You can also click the white arrow on the model to reverse the gravity direction.

      • In the model, the active arrow becomes orange.
      • The gravity arrow displayed in the top-right corner of the work area is updated.

    4. Click to validate the modification.
    In the Gravity dialog box, the gravitational acceleration values for the x, y, and z-axis are updated according to the selected geometry.
  3. Specify a value to define the gravity direction along the x, y, and z axis.
  4. Specify a magnitude value for the gravity.

    Note: By default, the magnitude is 9.81 m_s2.

  5. Optional: To reset the gravity to its initial definition, click Reset gravity definition .
  6. Click .