I am having some issues with fasteners not producing expected results, I am getting fasteners showing compression when there is undoubtedly a tensile load on them. I am trying to track down what the issue is, I ran the exact analysis a month ago with out any problems. After a run I open up the CSV file so I can filter desired results and I am wondering what the columns C, D, and E represent in the file. Colum B is obviously the load or stress applied to the fastener and I think column D has something to do with the thickness of the bolted joint but I have noticed that it is dependent on which side was chosen first when defining the fastener. I have a 3/4" plate on top of a 1" plate bolted and it looks like if I choose the 1" plate as the first reference it shows a -I in column D and if I choose the 3/4" plate first it shows 0.75 in column D.
To simplify the questions are....
1. What is the meaning of columns C, D, and E in the CSV output file with regards to fasteners?
2. Column D looks like it is showing the thickness of the second reference for the bolted connection along with its orientation (+/-), is this correct?
3. Does it make any difference which reference was used first which using a bolted (not screw) connection with the fastener tool?
Thanks in advance...