A polybeam has circular cross sections throughout its length. The mass of the
polybeam is distributed across dummy bodies that are located at each point in the polybeam.
A polybeam is defined by specifying the cross-sectional properties of the beam and the
locations of the points in the beam. MotionView automatically
generates the actual beam elements and dummy bodies.
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If the Polybeams panel is not currently displayed, select the desired polybeam
by clicking on it in the Project Browser or in the
modeling window.
The Polybeams panel is automatically displayed.
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From the Point Connectivity tab, click the Point
collectors and select the points that describe the polybeam from the modeling window, or double-click the collectors to open the
Model Tree (from which the desired points can be
selected).
Tip:
- To add points to the end of the table, enter the number of points
you want to add in the text box and click
Append.
- Select the check box next to any point and click
Insert to add a new point above the point
selected.
- Delete points by selecting their respective check boxes and clicking
Delete.
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Click the Beam Properties tab.
By default, the polybeam has a circular cross section.
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Enter a value for the mass density (Rho) of the material of the beam.
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Enter the values for the Young’s Modulus (E) and Shear Modulus (G) in the
corresponding fields.
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Enter the values of the Outer (OD) and Inner Diameters (ID) of the polybeam
cross section.
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Enter a value for the correction factor (AS) for the shear deflection.
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Enter a value for the stiffness to damping matrix ratio (CRatio).
The damping matrix for the polybeam is computed by multiplying the stiffness
matrix by the C ratio.
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If needed, click the Point Coordinates tab and edit the
coordinates of points in the X, Y, and Z directions.