Initial Stress and Strain
You can add the Initial Stress and Strain to a Linear Elastic Material, Section Stiffness, or Fluid and Pipe Properties node, in order to specify the stress or strain state in the structure before applying any constraint or load. The values given are not initial values in the mathematical sense, but rather a contribution to the constitutive relation.
In many cases Initial Stress and Strain and External Stress are interchangeable when prescribing stresses, but you can find some more options in the latter.
Initial Stress
Specify the initial stress as the:
Initial bending moment Miz and for 3D models, Miy.
For 3D models: Initial torsional moment Mix.
For Timoshenko beam: Initial shear force Tiy and for 3D models, Tiz.
Initial Strain
Specify the initial strain as the:
Initial curvature θsiz and for 3D models, and θsiy.
For 3D models: Initial twist θsix.
For Timoshenko beam: Initial shear strain γsiy and for 3D models, γsiz.
Location in User Interface
Context Menus
Ribbon
Physics tab with Linear Elastic Material, Section Stiffness, or Fluid and Pipe Properties node selected in the model tree: