Spending time studying engineering has brought me back to doing Free Body Diagrams (FBD) and calculating forces on structures.

In 2024 as part of the first semester project we had to analyze the forces in a simple scissor jack. It was hard for people to understand how the forces moved around when the jack was operated.

I tried to solve it in two ways:

  • Making parametric force arrows as parts in Solidworks, that updated as the model was changed
  • A simple simulation in P5 showing how the forces moved around.

The Solidworks model provided the most accurate solution, but was limited to be used by people having a Solidworks installation.
The interactive web version was possible for everybody to use.

Illustration from the 1. semester report. Arrows were made as parametric parts in Solidworks

Static FBD are less effective at communicating than an active model you can play with. Try it out here.

The first semester project at Absalon Kalundborg was made together with: Benjamin Bastian Kyhl & Nikolai Krontoft.