FE Absorb Plies generates a ply-based model from zone-based properties.
Entities that are created include ply and laminate entities, with
optional creation of (OptiStruct/Nastran) PCOMPP.
Exact conversion of the zone-based model to ply-based model depends on the existence
of global ply ID’s/name’s on the zones, for example PCOMPG
instead of PCOMP. FE Absorb Plies will still run with zones that
do not have global data, for example PCOMP, but the conversion
relies on internal logic to determine how to connect plies from zone to zone. Figure 1.
From the menu bar, click Aerospace > Composites > FE Absorb Plies.
Import zone-based models with zone-based solver properties.
These FE models do not have any plies or laminates. The goal is to create
plies and laminates from the zone-based solver properties. Figure 2. No Plies or Laminates are in the FE Model
Select all of the zone-based solver properties which will be used to generate
the ply-based model.
If you are using OptiStruct, select
Update TMANUF of ply so that zone layer thickness is
copied to PLY card TMANUF (used for sizing
optimization).
If a zone ply shape has multiple disconnected regions, generate multiple plies,
one for each disconnected region, by selecting Split disconnected ply
regions into separate new ply entities.
After the conversion, laminates and plies are created. However converting a
zone-based model to a ply-based model is not deterministic if global IDs or
names are not defined in the properties. Many possibilities exist, especially
the laminate stacking order. You are advised to check the laminate and reorder,
if necessary. Figure 3. Ply, Laminate and PCOMPP are Created in the Model after FE Absorb
