Elements

A table summarising the PAFEC elements handled is given in Table 2.1.

Eltype PAFEC Element Variants

BE2 1 = 34000 2 = 34100 3 = 34300 4 = 34400 5 = 42120

BE3 1 = 42130 2 = 43310 3 = 43315

TR3 1 = 36100 2 = 36105 3 = 36640 4 = 36645

5 = 39100 6 = 39105 7 = 41320

QU4 1 = 36200 2 = 36205 3 = 36630 4 = 36635

5 = 39200 6 = 39205 7 = 44200 8 = 44205

TR6 1 = 36110 2 = 36115 3 = 36620 4 = 36625

5 = 39110 6 = 39115 7 = 43110 8 = 43115

9 = 44110 10 = 44115 11 = 45100

QU8 1 = 36210 2 = 36215 3 = 36610 4 = 36615

5 = 39210 6 = 39215 7 = 43210 8 = 43215

9 = 44210 10 = 44215 11 = 46210

PE6 1 = 37200 2 = 37205 3 = 39600 4 = 39605

HE8 1 = 37100 2 = 37105 3 = 39700 4 = 39705

PE15 1 = 37210 2 = 37215 3 = 39610 4 = 39615

HE20 1 = 37110 2 = 37115 3 = 39710 4 = 39715

 

There is an entry for each element under the headings :

NUMBER   GROUP   ELEMENT.TYPE   PROPERTIES   TOPOLOGY

NUMBER is the number of the element and GROUP the element group number as specified in FEMGEN. The ELEMENT.TYPE is the number specified by both the element type and the variant number chosen by the user with the FEMGEN commands : The command UTILITY TABULATE FE PAFEC will cause a display of the various element types and variants.

The user should be aware that in PAFEC structural elements may not be used in thermal jobs and vice versa; the interface simply copies the data it will not ensure that element types are suitable for the loadings used.

The number under PROPERTIES refers to entries in the BEAMS, PLATES.AND.SHELLS or MATERIALS modules depending on whether the element is 1, 2 or 3D. For a beam element the property number refers to a property identifier generated within the interface to a distinct combination of 3 FEMGEN characteristics : physical properties, material and orientation node. These will be listed in the BEAMS module. Elements contained in lines with invalid section types or no material properties have been defined will not be processed. Valid section types are PIPE and GENERAL.

For shells and other 2D elements the property number refers to a combination of thickness and material number to be listed in the PLATES.AND.SHELLS module. For solids the property number simply refers to the material number. If the interface encounters a property or material number of zero a message will be sent to the screen to tell the user that he may have to modify the output file before submitting it to PAFEC.

Under TOPOLOGY there will be a list of the node numbers which specify the element in the order required by PAFEC. For elements with more than 10 nodes the node listing will take more than one line to respect the PAFEC convention of module data being within 80 characters. In this case an asterisk will be placed in the first column to indicate a continuation line.