*beamsectioncreatesolid

Creates a solid beam section for HyperBeam.

Syntax

*beamsectioncreatesolid entity_type mark_id plane_id vector_id use_plane base_node elem_order

Type

HyperMesh Tcl Modify Command

Description

Creates a solid beam section for HyperBeam, using a planar collection of elements, lines or surfaces.

If surfaces are used, HyperMesh meshes the surface with quads and trias of the specified order (2nd order recommended), with the meshing parameters such as element size calculated in such a way as to produce elements useful to HyperBeam.

If lines are used, HyperMesh builds a surface through the projected lines and meshes the surface with quads and trias as above.

If elements are used, they must form a single, connected patch with small enough elements that there is at least one internal node providing flexibility for each of the thinnest portions of the beam cross-section.

The base_node and vector_id are used to orient the beam cross-section calculations. HyperMesh beam cross-sections are, by convention, assumed to be in the y-z plane. The centroid and moments of inertia will be reported in those coordinates.

Inputs

entity_type: The type of entity to use to create the section. Valid values are elements, lines, or surfaces.
mark_id: The ID of the mark containing the entities. Valid values are 1 and 2.
plane_id: The ID of the plane to use, defined using the *createplane command. Currently always 1.
vector_id: The ID of the y-axis vector to use, defined using the *createvector command. Currently always 1.
use_plane: A flag specifying whether or not the plane is reliable; usually this can be inferred automatically from the command.; 0 - HyperMesh tries to infer a plane from the data, then projects the elements, lines, or surfaces to that plane before using them.; 1 - Used when you also supply a plane ID via the plane_id argument. HyperMesh projects the entities to the specified plane instead of inferring one.
base_node: The ID of the node specifying the origin of all beam section calculations.
elem_order: The order (1 or 2) of the elements to use.

Examples

To create a solid section from elements 1-100, using an inferred plane, z-axis as the vector, and base node 100:

*createvector 1 0 0 1
*createmark elems 1 1-100
*beamsectioncreatesolid elems 1 1 1 0 100 1

Errors

Incorrect usage results in a Tcl error. To detect errors, you can use the catch command:

if { [ catch {command_name...} ] } {
   # Handle error
}