Create/Modify FE Part

FE Part Name

If creating an FE part, enter the name of the FE part.

If modifying an FE part, enter its database name.

Tips on Entering Object Names in Text Boxes.

Type
(only in create mode)

Select one of the following:

Material

Beam Type

Specify the specific type of FE Part to be modeled: 3D Beam, 2D Beam XY, 2D Beam YZ, or 2D Beam ZX.

Damping Ratio (Stiffness)

Specify the fraction of the stiffness matrix that contributes to the damping matrix.

Damping Ratio (Mass)

Specify the fraction of the mass matrix that contributes to the damping matrix.

Define By

Select the method to define the FE part's centerline: New B-Spline, Existing B-Spline, Existing Outline, or Line From Two Points.

If you set Define By to New B-Spline, the following options are displayed:

Spline

Enter the name for the new Spline.

Locations

Specify four or more Coordinate References to define the FE part's centerline. Select the Generate Spline button to create the spline before proceeding to the Nodes tab.

External Geometry

Select and specify a Shell file if you want to use imported geometry rather than the default geometry generated based on Section data. The shell will be located and oriented relative to the FE Part's Centerline_Marker. If the shell was not generated in this coordinate system, it may not import correctly.

Node Label

Set the node labels if you want to override the default numbering.

Distance (S)

Specify the position along the length of the centerline; 0 is the start and 1 is the end.

Details about how the number and location of nodes can influence extruded geometry.

Angle (deg)

A node's X-axis will be oriented in the direction of the curve's instantaneous tangent at the node location. For "Angle," specify the rotation about the node's X-axis defining the orientation of the normal and binormal (that is, the node's Y and Z axes). If this value is zero Adams will, by default, orient the node according to the following rules:

Section

Specify the Section object that will be used to define the cross-sectional properties of the FE Part at the node.

Solid geometry creation for the FE Part can also be defined via the Section definition.

Uniform Section

Apply the section defined in the first row to all rows.

Section Editor

Opens the Create Section dialog box.

Evenly Distribute

Reset all cells in the "Distance (S)" column so as to evenly space the nodes from Start to End.

Sort by S

Sort and rename all nodes so that they are sequentially ordered by their "Distance (S)" values.

Uniform Angle

Set all Angle cells to match the value in the Start row.

Evenly Rotate

Reset all cells in the "Angle" column so as to evenly rotate the nodes from Start to End between the current values in the Start and End rows.

Faceting Tolerance

Specify a real value to control the mesh density for visualizing the FE Part. The default Faceting Tolerance is 300.0. Increasing this value will result in a finer mesh of triangles, which gives a more accurate representation of curved surfaces. Increasing the tolerance, however, also increases the memory requirements of the geometry engine and adds to the computational overhead, which makes it run slower. Maximum limit is 5000.0.

If you set Define By to New B-Spline, Existing B-Spline, or Existing Outline, the following options are displayed:

Curve Control Points

The table will be populated with rows corresponding to each of the spline’s control points’ positions. All existing nodes/rows will be replaced.

Parameterize

Select this option to enforce a persistent link between the curve control point locations and node locations.

The Contour Plots and Datum Node options are available while modifying the FE part.

Contour Plots

Select this checkbox to enable color contour plotting during animation for the FE Part. The Datum Node can be selected only if the Contour Plots checkbox is selected.

Datum Node

The color contour plot of "deformation" is defined by the displacement of the geometry vertices relative to the datum node. By default the datum node is the node at S=0. To use a different FE Part node please select it here. Note that during the simulation the colors may appear differently than in post-processing animation because the entire extent of deformation throughout the simulation is not yet known, thus the color scale can change.

Preview

Select to generate a temporary FE Part. This option is useful for checking the shape of your geometry near centerline bends or Section transitions.

Color

Select a color for the FE Part.

Select to display a dialog box where you can add multi-line comments to any entity, to describe its purpose and function. Your template-based product displays different comments dialog boxes, depending on the entity type for which you want to record comments:

Learn about Recording Comments.