Create and Assign Structural Properties

Structural properties are meant to be placeholders that hold local information, that can change from one structural element to another, useful for method evaluation. They usually contain extra information not directly available from FE entities or results.

1. From the Certification ribbon, Property tool group, click the Create tool.

   
   
   Figure 1.

2. Assign a configuration and define any parameters in the dialog and then click Close.

   Configuration	Description
   Beam	Beam structural properties refer to a Material entity and a Beamsection entity. They also have a Length data name which represents the physical length of the Member (column) that needs to be considered in methods (that length is multiplied by the constraint factor in buckling length calculation). When a structural property is created from Beam structural element detection, the length defaults to the total length of the beam elements absorbed. Figure 2.
   Rivet	Rivet structural properties contain, by default, the Rivet diameter. This diameter is considered in the size of the extraction area where far field fluxes are extracted. Figure 3.
   Panel Metallic	Panel metallic structural properties contain reference to: Panel thickness (constant for the whole panel) Metallic material Panel dimensions (width/length/radius of curvature) Figure 4.
   Panel Composite	Panel composite structural properties contain reference to: Panel dimensions (width/length/Radius of curvature) Composite property For OptiStruct/Nastran solver profiles, the property used is of type PCOMP/PCOMPG. The sequence information (ply thicknesses, orientations, and materials) are extracted from this property. A structural property assigned without reference to a property runs using a direct elemental property instead of a “panel-level” property. Figure 5.
   Spring	Spring structural properties contain reference to: Bush property For OptiStruct/Nastran solver profiles, the property used is of type PBUSH. Figure 6.
   Generic	Generic structural properties have no default.

3. From the Property tool group, click the Assign tool.

   
   
   Figure 7.

4. On the guide bar, click and select an option for how structural properties are assigned to design points.

   Assign selected property

   Assigns the same structuralproperty entity to all designpoints.

   Duplicate and assign property to all

   Creates a new instance of selected structuralproperty and assigns the copy to all designpoints.

   Duplicate and assign property per designpoint

   Creates a new instance of selected structuralproperty per designpoint entity.

   This option performs a deep copy, meaning the structural property's references, such as materiel/property or beamsection, are also copied. Each structural property generated is fully independent.

   This is useful for design exploration where you update structural properties separately.

5. Select the structural property to assign.
6. Select the design points to which the property is assigned.
7. On the guide bar, click one of the following:
   • - Save changes and stay in the tool.
   • - Save changes and close the tool.