The following images demonstrate how to plot the normal stresses XX,YY,ZZ and shear stresses XY,YZ,XZ.
Right-click on Solution >Insert>Stress>Normal for normal stresses and Solution >Insert>Stress>Shear for shear stresses.
Select the post as the geometry and click Apply.
Change the Orientation tab to alter the stress direction. Note that the maximum normal stress occurs in the zz direction and the maximum shear stress occurs in the xz direction. This makes sense with the given loads and boundary conditions.
Note: These results are based on a post diameter equal to 1.12 ft.
For clearer solution labels, right click the newly created Stress Solution>Rename Based on Definition. There should be a total of six result plots added under the Solution— Normal stresses XX,YY,ZZ and Shear stresses XY,YZ,XZ
Finally, click on the Solve button.
Ansys created the stiffness matrix for each element, assembled the global stiffness matrix, then inverted the matrix to get the nodal displacements. This is the bulk of the computation that Ansys performs. The following results are derived from these nodal displacements.