Beam & Shell Properties

 

 

The following window creates a beam property (New Beam button, ~BMSHPRO and ~BMSHOFF commands) or shell property (New Shell button, ~BMSHPRO command). In this window, the user may also Modify (~BMSHPRO and ~BMSHOFF commands), Delete (~BMSHDEL command), Copy (~BMSHGEN command) or List (~BMSHLST command) their properties.

 

 

 

Beam Properties

 

The following window is displayed when modifying or creating a beam property:

 

 

 

 

 

 

This window is divided in:

·         Upper menu – The beam’s general properties are defined here: Number, Name, Beam type (Ename) and Offset location (Offset).

·         Cross Section (left side) – where the type of beam section is chosen, and its offsets can be seen and modified.

·         Member Properties (right side) – where member properties of the beam are chosen.

 

In the left side (Cross Section), it is possible to choose if the beam is of constant section or of variable section (pressing on the Constant Section button the screen will change and will display Variable Section)

 

 

There is a button in the bottom side to display the Real Constants assigned to the beam.

 

 

Node location (Beam offsets)

 

When creating a BEAM44 or BEAM54 element type, the nodes location can be modified by entering an offset (~BMSHOFF command).

There is a combo box in the upper menu which displays the kind of offset de beam will have:

 

 

·         COG – The node is located at the centre of gravity of the section.

·         Origin – The node is located at the section’s axis origin.

·         User – The node is defined by entering its coordinates in the edit boxes located under the cross section picture. These coordinates are referred to the section axis. It is alos possible to select any of the nine typified points on the section, by simply clicking on any of them:

·         COS – The node is located at the shear centre of the section.

 

 

Shell Properties

 

The window is the same in the case of Shell Properties, but beam ends (sections) are substituted by shell ends (vertices). Instead of displaying each end, two fields where the vertex Thickness and the Material are shown.

 

 

For SHELL63 elements, the Elastic Foundation Stiffness (EFS) edit box is available.

 

For SHELL181 and 281 elements, an offset can be defined to locate the node at the TOP of the shell element, at the BOTTOM or at any other location defined by the Z coordinate, measured from the shell's mid-plane.

 

In both windows, Beam Properties and Shell Properties, by pressing the Real Constants button, a dialog is opened in which the Real Constants that will be created in ANSYS are shown.

 

 

 

Related commands:

~BMSHDEL

~BMSHGEN

~BMSHLST

~BMSHOFF

~BMSHPRO