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When Initial is not Undeformed

One of the more innovative features of Flexcom is that you can define an initial position which is not stress free, and the program will automatically calculate the initial stress distribution, as well of course as additional or further stresses caused by motions from or about this initial position.

What happens in this case is that the specification of the initial position and the undeformed configuration become completely separate and independent. The initial position is described via the nodal coordinates in the usual way. The undeformed configuration is defined by using the components of the V and W vectors to define the undeformed orientation of elements.

Note the use of the term orientation in that last sentence, and indeed throughout earlier sections. The actual location (relative, say, to the global coordinate system) of the undeformed elements is not the main concern in defining the stress free structure configuration. It is instead the orientation of these elements, particularly relative to one another, which is important. This is best illustrated by means of an example - let's consider a sample pipeline model.