Can mass and stiffness matrices be extracted from matlab pde toolbox

Question

I am in the process of simulating a model which involves a component that needs to be modeled as a flexible body. I am performing the simulation using Simscape Multi-body. For modeling the flexible body I should be using the principle of finite element methods to generate the mass and stiffness matrices. Can I generate these matrices using the modal analysis in the pde toolbox directly or should I be using an external FE software like Ansys?

Thanks Goutham Sajja

Answer 1

Yes you can do that by the following lines:

model = createpde(N);
.
.
.
.

FEM = assembleFEMatrices(model);
%Mass Matrix
M = FEM.M;
%Stiffness Matrix
K = FEM.K;

but I understood something else in your question. you want to use the finite element to give you some results to use it in a modal analysis inside a dynamic simulation. if this is the case then you need the Eigen modes calculation for your flexible body. the best commercial package to do so is ABAQUS.