Hi,

I ask this before starting the model itself as it was a question asked of me by my boss. He is under the impression that if I can work out stresses and displacements that I can find a maximum load on the end of a crane arm just by applying forces from the RAMs. I am under the impression that I won't be able to get an accurate resultant force because the model cannot be constrained under the right conditions with no load applied at the end. He is under the impression that because I could find the resultant force at a fixture I can reverse the process.

A picture of the propessed model (obviously I would need to simplify for simulation):

I haven't attempted the model because I didn't want to waste too much time so my two follow up questions would be:

1. If it is possible how is it achieved?

2. If it is not possible how do I explain that to my boss?

Thanks for any help,

Mark