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Element Attributes
• To list the attributes for an element, use “Utility menu > List > Picked
Entities +”
– “Query Item” should be set to “Attributes”
– “On Entities” should be changed to “Elements”
– Pick the element(s) of interest – recall that by holding down
the left mouse button, one can drag the mouse on the
screen until
til th
the d
desired
i d element
l t is
i highlighted
hi hli ht d
– By clicking on [OK] or [Apply], the attributes will be shown
• One may notice from the previous slides that the element attributes
are referred by ID number
• In Mechanical APDL, everything is designated via a unique ID number
– Node numbers, element numbers
– Element type ID, material ID, real constant ID, section property ID
– Coordinate system
y ID
…etc.
E
Example
l 1D line
li element
l t
• Element types present in the model can be viewed under “Main Menu
> Preprocessor > Element Type > Add/Edit/Delete”
– Highlight an element type of interest and use [Options…] to bring up a
dialog box to change element behavior
• Use “Utility menu > List > Properties > Element Types” to get a
concise listing of defined element types.
– Please keep in mind that not all physics may support elements with or
without midside nodes. In these cases, the midside node specification
will be overridden
– The
Th [Options]
[O ti ] dialog
di l box
b in
i Mechanical
M h i l APDL exposes the th underlying
d l i
element formulation of the elements. In Mechanical, however, all of these
options are not presented to the user with the exception of the integration
scheme for brick elements
• Under the “Geometry” branch, set “Element Control: Manual”. Then, per solid
part, the “Brick Integration Scheme” option will be available.
• In the Material Models GUI shown below, the left column lists the
defined material properties by ID number while the right shows
available constitutive models that can be added.
• For linear material properties, use “Utility Menu > List > Properties >
All Materials”.
• For nonlinear material properties, select “Utility Menu > List >
Properties > Data Tables …”
Example Listing for Linear Properties Example Listing for Nonlinear Properties
• Check the Element Reference in the Help system for each element to
determine which input is used
• Use “Main Menu > Preprocessor > Real Constants > Add/Edit/Delete”
to review currently defined real constants
– When editing a real constant, the user needs to select the associated
element type for that real constant in the GUI
• Use “Utility Menu > List > Properties > All Real Constants” to see a
text listing of real constants
• Note from the previous slide that real constants are lists of values:
– The order (position) of each value is important for each element
– For example, in the BEAM4 Element Reference help section, the first real
constant value is the cross-sectional area, while the second real constant
entry is the area moment of inertia Izz.
• Section properties can be edited from “Main Menu > Preprocessor >
Sections” (supported element name in parentheses):
– Sections are grouped by element type:
• Beams (BEAM44, BEAM188, BEAM189)
• Pipes (PIPE288, PIPE289, ELBOW290)
• Shells:
– 3D thermal shells (SHELL131,
(SHELL131 SHELL132)
– 3D structural shells (SHELL181, SHELL281)
– 2D axisymmetric shells (SHELL208, SHELL209)
– Layered solids (SOLID185, SOLID186, SOLSH190)
• Bolt
B lt Pretension
P t i (PRETS179)
( )
• Joints (MPC184)
• Reinforcements (REFIN264, REINF265)
• General Axisymmetric (SOLID272
(SOLID272, SOLID273)
• Mechanical will generate each solid, surface, and line body to have
the same ID numbers for the element attributes:
– The element type ID, material property ID, real constant ID, section
property ID will all be the same. By default, the element coordinate
system ID will be “0”
– If hex-dominant meshing is used for solid bodies, note that 2 element
type IDs will be created – one for the tetrahedral elements
elements, the other for
the hexahedral / wedge / pyramid elements
• For contact regions, the contact and target side will have sequential
ID numbers
– To change the ID numbers for the active element attributes, use the
following APDL commands:
• Element Type: TYPE,id
• Material Properties: MAT,id
MAT id
• Real Constants: REAL,id
• Section Properties: SECN,id
• Element Coordinate System:
y ESYS,id