Reply To: “Free” to Zero Displacement Structural Boundary Conditions

[peteroznewman]

A temperature load applied to a plate with a Fixed support on one edge and the opposite edge free will not result in a stress-free themal expansion. While there will be no stress at the free edge, there will be high stress at the fixed edge.

Delete the Fixed support and use a Remote Displacement, Behavior=Deformable, and set all six DOF to 0 to get a stress-free thermal expansion.

Erik has described how to treat the free end for the main question you asked.