2. MODELING

CHAPTER 2 "MODELLING" 28 OBSERVATION: In Plane Stress elements the loads are applied within the plane of the element (perpendicular to its thickness) considering zero stresses perpendicular to the plane of the element. In Plane Strain elements the deformations perpendicular to the plane of the element are assumed to be zero and Axisymmetric elements are used to simulate surfaces produced by rotation. In the new version of SCADA Pro a new surface element was added, the Solid element (see Solid element below). This element can be defined in its generic form, with a minimum number of nodes of 8 and a maximum number of 21. • " Density ", " Width " and " Thickness " refer to the geometry of the surface. "Density", expresses the smooth transition from an area with dense surface elements to an area with sparser surface elements. A larger size expresses a smoother "flow" surface elements and, of course, a greater number of surface elements. A low density can be used in cases where you want to use a few elements in order get an estimate of the intensive state (e.g. at the preliminary design level). In the "Width" field you enter in centimeters the width of each element and in the "Thickness" field the thickness of your surface. • The options " Display. Grid " and " Flat surface " options are disabled and are only used when importing 3D surface elements. • In the " Material " and " Quality " fields, make the corresponding selections. • The next option is whether the material is " Isotropic or Orthotropic ". The Orthotropic material allows you to set different material properties per direction. If you specify an orthotropic material, the numerical values of the properties you specify must obey the relationship . • " Corner ": in the Orthotropic material will be activated in a future version of the program. • " New ": after you have completed the definition of all the above data, press the " New " button and in the " Grid Group Descriptions " section the grid you have just given is entered with a serial number. Following the same procedure you can create other mesh groups with different geometric and physical properties.