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SARB
Item Description Unit Default
TYPE Type of boundary
OUT outer boundary
Number of a geometric line Number of a geometric point number of start point
number of end point
Thickness of the area in this boundary
−
Material number of the boundary Hinge condition of boundary Distance to boundary This record describes one single edge of an outer or inner boundary of a preced-ing structural region defined at SAR. A valid structural region requires at least one closed loop of outer boundary edges but may also have a number of inner bound-aries to describe openings or constraining edges. The edge can be given as refer-ence to a structural line SLN or can be established directly by adding subsequent SLNB or SLNP records.
In the case, that no outer boundary is explicitly given for a structural area, SOFiMSHC creates the edges on the boundary automatically on basis of the un-derlying geometric surface definition, if one exist. This option is especially helpful when defining rotational (SARR) and freeformsurfaces (SARP).
The edges of the boundaries can be entered in any sequence and orientation.
SOFiMSHC sorts and connects the edges, provided that common end points exist and a closed sequence of edges can be found.
Additional point or line constraints in the interior of the domain may be defined for supports, columns or other selected points using TYPE CONS. As SOFiMSHC however, automatically incorporates points and lines lying inside a region as con-straint, there is usually no need for this option. Only in cases, where the automatic detection fails, it can be useful to add points or lines as constraints explicitly.
For boundary edges and constraining points a thickness may be set at T in order to define a varying thickness distribution over the structural region. The thickness is approximated between the given points and lines using a least squares method. Depending on the number of definition points linear and higher polyno-mial distributions of the thickness are possible. If the thickness is given at bound-ary edges, the general thickness of the region at SAR must be set explicitly to ’0’.
Hinge− and bedding conditions can be defined for outer and inner edges. Hinge conditions are defined at FIX, where the literals PX, PY, PZ, MX, MY, MZ which can also be combined are possible and which defines the respective local degree of freedom to be released. In order to define bedding conditions on the boundary, linear bedding constants can be given at CA, CL and CD for axial, transversal and rotational bedding or a material at MAT which allows to define also non−linear conditions. When boundary conditions are defined, additional edges will be cre-ated in the interior of the region and connected with the respective boundary. If a distance is given at DFIX, these internal edges will be additionally set off with a small gap to the interior of the region.
See also: SAR
5.13. SARR − Rotational and sweep surfaces
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SARR
Item Description Unit Default
Type
Type of Structural surface geometry ROTA Surface of revolution SWEE Sweep−surface First generating curve Second generating curve Reference point
Direction vector
Start parameter in u−direction End parameter in u−direction Start parameter in v−direction End parameter in v−direction
Lit4 The given record SARR defines the geometry of rotational or sweep−surfaces.
The record is a property record and refers to the directly preceding definition of a structural area SAR. Only one record SARR is allowed or each structural area.
The following types of geometry can be described with this record:
ROTA: Surface of revolution
A given structural line or geometric curve GID1 is rotated about a straight axis in space. The rotation axis is defined by a point at X,Y,Z and a direc-tionvector at NX,NY,NZ.
The parameters UMIN and UMAX define the extends of the surface in me-ridian direction along the generating curve GID1. If nothing is given, the whole curve GID1 is taken.
The extend of the rotation angle in degree is defined using the paramters
VMIN and VMAX. If nothing is given, the parameters default to an angle from 0 to 180 degree.
Important: In order to avoid ambiguity in numerical operations, surfaces of revolution should never be defined as closed surface with a rotation angle from eg. 0 to 360 degree. In these cases it is recommended to create two halfshells with angles from 0 to 180 degree and 0 to −180 degree respec-tively.
SWEE: Sweep−Surface
A structural line or geometric curve GID1 is swept along a so called traject-ory curve GID2. Instead of the trajecttraject-ory curve, a direction vector can be given at NX,NY,NZ along which the generating curve GID1 is moved.
The parameters UMIN and UMAX define the extend of the surface along the trajectory curve GID2 or the direction vector, respectively. If nothing is given here, the whole curve or the length of the direction vector is used.
The parameters VMIN and VMAX define the extend of the surface along the generating curve GID1.
In general cases, there is no need to define the boundary edges of the structural area explicitly, when rotational or sweep surfaces are defined with this record.
SOFiMSHC creates the edges automatically at the boundary of the geometry sur-face. Only in cases if openings or constraining edges should be defined or the boundary of the structural area does not coincide with the extends of the geome-tric surface, the boundary edges have to be defined explicitly using records of type SARB.
See also: SAR, SARN
5.14. SARP − 3D Surface data point
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SARP
Item Description Unit Default
TYPE
Type of data point
Position in u−direction {1,...}
Position in v−direction {1,...}
X−coordinate Y−coordinate Z−coordinate
Weight of control−point (TYPE NURB) Thickness of plate at point (currently not supported)
With records of type SARP an arbitrary freeform surface geometry can be defined for a preceding structural region at SAR. A single record SARP describes one point on the surface. The points will be usually given in a m x n−grid like pattern.
Depending on the parameter TYPE, following types of surface geometries can be defined:
SPLI: Bicubic interpolation
The given data points will be interpolated by a bicubic spline surface. The points must be given in a m x n−grid like pattern.
NURB: Nurbs surface
The given data points correspond to the control points of a NURBS sur-face. The points must be given in a m x n−grid like pattern. In order to de-scribe non−rational NURBS−surfaces (e.g. rotational or spherical sur-faces), each point can also be assigned a weight W<>1.0. Additional information about the definition of NURBS curves and surfaces can be found in chapter 2 of this manual.
In general cases, there is no need to define the boundary edges of the structural area explicitly, when a freeform surface geometry is defined with this record.
SOFiMSHC creates the edges automatically at the boundary of the geometry sur-face. Only in cases if openings or constraining edges should be defined or the boundary of the structural area does not coincide with the extends of the
geome-tric surface, the boundary edges have to be defined explicitly using records of type SARB.
See also: SAR SARP
5.15. SARN − Knot value of a NURBS surface
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SARN
Item Description Unit Default
S T DEGS DEGT
Knot value in S−direction Knot value in T−direction
Degree of surface in S−direction Degree of surface in T−direction
−
−
−
−
0.
0.
3 3 SLNN defines knot values of an arbitrary NURBS surface. A NURBS freeform surface contains two so−called knot vectors for each parameter direction. This record defines one single entry of these lists either for the S−direction or the T−dir-ection of the parameter plane. The knot−values of a dirT−dir-ection must be given in ascending order.
A detailed description of knot−vectors of freeform curves and surfaces can be found in chapter 2 of this manual.
See also: SAR
5.16. SARC − Coons−Patch surfaces
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SARC
Item Description Unit Default
TYPE Type of surface interpolation Lit BLIN
SOFiMSHC allows to create curved structural areas only by definition of an outer boundary. In these cases − if the user has not explicitly defined the geometry of the area (SARR, SARP) − the surface geometry is interpolated from the pairwise opposite boundary curves (Coons−Patch or Gordon−Surfaces). With this record the type of this interpolation can be set:
• BLIN: bilinear interpolation
The surface geometry is defined by linear interpolation of opposite boundary curves
• BCUB: bicubic interpolation
A bicubic interpolation also considers the inclinations of the boundary cu-ves. This allows to define surfaces with smooth transitions between adjacent structural areas.
SOFiMSHC automatically performs a linear interpolation of the boundary edges, if the edges are not lying within a plane and no surface geometry has been set explicitly. Thus, this record must only be given if a cubic interpolation is desired.
In order to perform a Coons−Patch interpolation, at least three closed boundary edges must be given. If more than four edges are given, they will be joined con-veniently.
See also: SVOS
5.17. SVO − Structural volume
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SVO
Item Description Unit Default
NO
DEL delete all volumes
Boundary condition within the volume Group number of volume elements Material number of volume elements Material number of reinforcement Type of Volume
BRIC Solid Continua Elements BMAT Springelements from bedding MAT Springelements from material Title of volume This defines a volume. You may change an existing definition if you enter a nega-tive value for NO. The geometry of the volume itself is defined via surfaces se-lected via SVOS.
SVO can also define an elastic support or interface between two structural areas.
This is accomplished by defining at TYPE a literal BMAT or MAT. In this case spring elements in the direction of extrusion will be generated instead of the stan-dard 8 node solids. The mechanical properties of which are calculated from the adjacent QUAD−areas and either from the bedding constants defined for material MNO or the values of the elasticity and shear modulus and tensile and compres-sive strength defined with Material MNO and the real distance of the nodes along the extrusion direction. A definition of MRF allows the selection of an explicit force−displacement curve for non−linear analysis.
See also: SVO SPT SAR SARB CTRL
5.18. SVOS − Structrual volume faces
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SVOS
Item Description Unit Default
NAR ACT
NO
Number of the surface SAR Action of surface
SURF general surface
QGRP surface from QUAD elements EXTR extrusion of surface
ROTA rotation of surface
MESH mesh size for tetrahedron generation
BGRP Extrusion of beams
Number of a geometric line or axis or subdivision of a boundary layer
−
T Boundary layer thickness (SURF/QGRP) or extra thickness value for ROTA
or explicit stepping for EXTR
or value for mesh density for MESH
* 0.0
Start scale factor for EXTR End scale factor for EXTR
Scale factor for variable thickness End scale factor for variable thickness Reference value for variable thickness Rotational start angle for EXTR/ROTA Rotational end angle for EXTR/ROTA Increment of rotational angle for ROTA
−
Item Description Unit Default
Reference SPT on surface
Explicit extrusion / rotational axis if NO is not defined
This definition is equivalent to an axis starting from point (xx,yy,zz) zu
(xx+dx,yy+dy,zz+dz)
Materialnumber of boundary layer
− There are different possibilities to define a volume:
• Tetrahedral unstructured mesh of an arbitrary volume defined by the com-plete set of all surfaces. Any surface may have a boundary layer of moder-ate thickness T (must be smaller than mehs size in corners) which is sub-divided in NR elements and may have assigned a different material numner MNO.
• Hexahedral structured mesh by extrusion of surfaces along a line or axis with number NO or an explicit value, applying a linear variant scaling and rotation along. A linear variation of a scaling and a rotation about the ex-truded line and a variable thickness can be applied in this case. The mesh size along the extrusion is given either through the available mesh parti-tioning or through the explicit default of an increment T.
• Hexahedral structured mesh by rotation of the surface about an axis in a specific angle area.
When extruding a structural region into a hexahedral element mesh, the structural lines bounding the region will also be extruded to new structural regions with the same number on the outer sides of the volume. Attention should be paid, that these line numbers do not correspond to any other number of a structural region defined before.
For Tetraeder−Volume−Generations it is possible to specify at SVOS the item T as thickness of a boundary layer, created by a parallel offset of the surface. With NO a subdivision of the boundary layer may be defined, with MNO the boundary layer will get this material number instead that of the volume.
See also: SPT, SLN, SAR, SVO
5.19. GUID − Globally Unique Identifier
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GUID
Item Description Unit Default
ID 128 bit code given as hexadecimal string Lit ! This record allows to assign a Globally Unique Identifier to a structural element.
A Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) is a worldwide unique reference number usually stored as 128−bit integer, which is primarily used for the unique identifica-tion of objects, when data is exchanged between different computer systems. It must be given at parameter ID as hexadecimal string, like for example:
GUID ID ’3F5A9ECC−145B−4093−9D16−E6F48732F569’.
The GUID is a property record and must be given directly after the definition of the structural element at SPT, SLN, SAR or SVO. GUIDs will be assigned to all structural elements exported from SOFiPLUS or Autodesk Revit Structural.
When describing the model using the CADINP language in text mode, it is usually not necessary to set a GUID.
See also: XSUB GRP
5.20. BBOX − Bounding box
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BBOX
Item Description Unit Default
XMIN YMIN ZMIN XMAX YMAX ZMAX
Minimum coordinates
Maximum coordinates
[m]1001 [m]1001 [m]1001 [m]1001 [m]1001 [m]1001
1.e10 1.e10 1.e10 1.e10 1.e10 1.e10 This record defines as rectangular bounding box for the selection of structural elements. The record can be used for selecting the elements of a subsystem (see XSUB) or as secondary group (see GRP).