Assigning a beam orientation

After you have assigned beam sections to the wire regions of a part or to its stringers, you must assign an orientation to the beam sections by defining the approximate local 1-direction of the cross-section. The beam orientations that you assign to a part are assigned automatically to all instances of that part in the assembly. You can use the Query toolset to verify that you have assigned the correct beam orientation to a selected region. For more information, see Using the Query toolset to obtain assignment information.

Related Topics
Creating and editing sections
Selecting objects within the viewport
Plotting material orientations
In Other Guides
Beam element cross-section orientation

  1. If the part to which you want to assign an orientation is not visible in the current viewport, click the name of the desired part in the Part list located in the context bar.

    The selected part appears in the current viewport.

  2. From the main menu bar, select AssignBeam Section Orientation.

    Tip: You can also click the tool in the Property module toolbox.

  3. Select the wire region of the part from the viewport, and click mouse button 2 to indicate that you have finished selecting. (For more information, see Selecting objects within the viewport.”)

    Tip: You can limit the types of objects that you can select in the viewport by using the tools in the Selection toolbar. See Using the selection options, for more information.

    If you select Stringers as the object type, you can assign the beam orientation to the entire stringer or to one or more of its edges. From the prompt area, select (pick entire stringer) or (pick partial stringer), then make your selection in the viewport. If the selected part has multiple stringers, Abaqus/CAE will display the ambiguous picking options in the prompt area while you make your selection.

    If you would rather select from a list of existing sets, do the following:

    1. Click Sets on the right side of the prompt area.

      Abaqus/CAE displays the Region Selection dialog box containing a list of available part sets. Part sets containing only wires appear in the list.

    2. Select the part set of interest, and click Continue.

    Note:

    The default selection method is based on the selection method you most recently employed. To revert to the other method, click the button—Select in Viewport or Sets—on the right side of the prompt area.

  4. Abaqus/CAE prompts you to enter the vector representing an approximate n1-direction (the local 1-direction of the cross-section). For more information on defining the n1-direction, see Beam element cross-section orientation.

    Note:

    If the part was created in two-dimensional modeling space, the n1-direction is always normal to the X–Y plane (0.0, 0.0, −1.0).

    Abaqus/CAE displays the resulting (n1, n2, t) axis system on the selected wire regions.

  5. If the displayed (n1, n2, t) axis system is correct, click OK in the prompt area to confirm your choice. If you wish to change the beam orientation, click the Previous button () and enter a new n1-direction.

  6. If you want to assign beam orientations to additional wire regions, repeat Steps 3 through 5.

  7. Click mouse button 2 to indicate you have finished assigning beam orientations.