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FEM ElementGeometry2D

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FEM ElementGeometry2D

Menu location
Model → Element Geometry → Shell Plate Thickness
Workbenches
FEM
Default shortcut
C S
Introduced in version
-
See also
FEM tutorial

Solvers
All

Description[edit | edit source]

ElementGeometry2D is used to define the thickness of 2D (shell and introduced in 1.0: plane stress/strain) FEM elements, all or lying on the chosen surface. It has to be defined also for axisymmetric models, even though the thickness value is irrelevant in such a case.

2D mesh (on the left) and its expansion to solid elements done internally by CalculiX based on the specified thickness (on the right)

Usage[edit | edit source]

  1. There are several ways to invoke the command:
    • Press the Shell Plate Thickness button.
    • Select the Model → Element Geometry → Shell Plate Thickness option from the menu.
  2. Specify the shell thickness.
  3. Optionally press the Add button in the task panel and then click on the face you want to have a prescribed thickness. If the face selection is empty, all the remaining faces (whose thickness is not defined by other FEM ElementGeometry2D objects) will be automatically assigned. introduced in 1.1: To remove faces from the selection, press the Remove button.

Limitations[edit | edit source]

  • Currently, analyses combining shell elements with solid or edge (beam) elements are not supported.

Properties[edit | edit source]

  • DataThickness: Specifies the thickness of the 2D elements.
  • DataOffset - introduced in 1.1: Specifies offset of the shell mid-surface with respect to the meshed geometry. The unit is the shell thickness. Positive values indicate offset in the positive normal direction, negative values indicate offset in the opposite direction. Zero means no offset (mid-surface located on the meshed geometrical surface). For example, 0.5 means that the meshed geometrical surface will be the top surface of the expanded shell while -0.5 means that it will be the bottom surface.

Notes[edit | edit source]

  • For viewing results from CalculiX solver on the mesh expanded to the prescribed thickness, the property Beam Shell Result Output 3D in the FEM SolverCalculixCcxtools needs to be set to True. To just visualize the defined thicknesses before running actual calculations, one may run a check type analysis with this property set to True.
  • This feature uses the *SHELL SECTION card in CalculiX for shell elements and *SOLID SECTION card for plane stress/strain and axisymmetric elements.