Bodies Panel

Use the Bodies panel to create, review, and update group entities.

Location: Analysis page
Important: Only available in the OptiStruct solver interface.

Create Subpanel

Use the Create subpanel to create a new body definition for the OptiStruct MBD solution sequence.
Option Action
body Enter a name for the new body, or double-click body= and select an existing body.
type
Select a body type.
  • PRBODY (rigid body)
  • PFBODY (flexible body)
  • GROUND (ground body)
body color Select a color for the new body.
properties: props Select properties referenced by elements for inclusion in the body using the props selector.
rigids: elems Select rigid (RBAR, RROD, RBE2, RBE3) or mass (CONM2) elements for inclusion in the body using the elems selector.
free nodes: nodes Select additional free nodes for inclusion in the body using the nodes selector.
CMS Method Select the type of Component Mode Synthesis to perform while creating the flexible body.
frequency upper bound
Use a default upper boundary for the frequency or manually enter an upper bound.
Note: You only need to define frequency upper bound or number of modes, not both.
number of modes
Use a default number of modes or manually enter a desired number of modes.
Note: You only need to define frequency upper bound or number of modes, not both.

Update Subpanel

Use the Update subpanel to update a body definition for the OptiStruct Multi-Body Dynamics solution sequence.
Option Action
body Enter a name for the new body, or double-click body= and select an existing body.
type
Select a body type.
  • PRBODY (rigid body)
  • PFBODY (flexible body)
  • GROUND (ground body)
body color Select a color for the new body.
properties: props Select properties referenced by elements for inclusion in the body using the props selector.
rigids: elems Select rigid (RBAR, RROD, RBE2, RBE3) or mass (CONM2) elements for inclusion in the body using the elems selector.
free nodes: nodes Select additional free nodes for inclusion in the body using the nodes selector.
CMS Method Select the type of Component Mode Synthesis to perform while creating the flexible body.
frequency upper bound
Use a default upper boundary for the frequency or manually enter an upper bound.
Note: You only need to define frequency upper bound or number of modes, not both.
number of modes
Use a default number of modes or manually enter a desired number of modes.
Note: You only need to define frequency upper bound or number of modes, not both.

Parameters Subpanel

Use the Parameters subpanel to add or update additional but nonessential information to a body definition for the OptiStruct Multi-Body Dynamics solution sequence.
Option Action
body Enter a name for the new body, or double-click body= and select an existing body.
flex nodes Add degrees of freedom to nodes and/or remove interface nodes from the body definition.

Add degrees of freedom to nodes by first selecting nodes using the flex nodes selector, then select dof checkboxes accordingly and click add.

Remove interface nodes from the body definition by first selecting nodes using the flex nodes selector, then click remove. All degrees of freedom will be cleared.
dof1-dof6 Select degrees of freedom for the nodes selected using the flex nodes selector.
do not determine interface nodes automatically Prevent automatic determination of flexible body interface nodes so that you can specify them manually.
damping Use the default damping for flexible bodies or manually enter a critical desired ratio.
mass Selected body's total mass.

This overrides computation based on material and property information that would otherwise occur.
lxx, lyy, lzz, lxy, lxz, lyz Explicitly define the selected body’s values.

This overrides computation based on material and property information that would otherwise occur.
global system / local system Select the coordinate system to which the defined moments of inertia are related.
COG Choose the location of the center of gravity by selecting a grid point in the display, or double-click COG to manually enter the coordinates.

Command Buttons

Button Action
create Create the body.
review Click review after selecting the body to enter review mode. In this mode the body’s constituent entities display in red, while selected flex-nodes of a flexible body display in blue. The remaining model is drawn in gray.
This review mode is a temporary graphics mode; you can exit out of review mode by clicking review again or leaving the panel. While in review mode, use review opts to customize the graphical review of the bodies.
force transparency view
Display the entities that are not part of the body in a transparent view so that the entities in the body can be easily viewed.
gray color view/element color view
Display entities that are not part of the body in a gray color, improving the highlighting of the main and secondary entities. When element color is selected, the entities that are not part of the body are displayed in their original element color.
display entities
Turn the display of body entities on/off while in review mode.
card image Open the card image for the selected body.
update Update the selected body definition with your new settings.
update color Update only the body color. All other settings remain unchanged.
return Exit the panel.