Patran 2010 - Classes

46
PATRAN 2 Neutral File Preference Guide
Element Properties
Element Properties
The Element Properties form appears when the Element Properties toggle is chosen.There are several
option menus available when creating element properties. The selections made on the Element Properties
menu will determine which element property form appears, and ultimately, which element will be
created.
Element properties are simply categorized as Generic 0D, Generic 1D, Generic 2D and Generic 3D. An
element configuration ID, required for each property set definition, is used to distinguish element types
(e.g., Generic 3D, Configuration 8 might represent an 8-node hexahedral while Generic 3D,
Configuration 10 might represent a 10-node tetrahedral). Each category of element dimension has a
number of pre-defined property definitions. For example, Generic 1D properties include Configuration
ID, Orientation, Offset at Nodes 1 and 2, and Pinned degrees-of-freedom at nodes 1 and 2. The remaining
properties are generically defined as Prop 1, Prop 2, etc. Each of the generic properties can contain real
scalar, string, integer or material property name data.
Element property data is stored in Neutral File Packet 04 (see Packet Type 04: Element Properties
(p. 731) in the Patran Reference Manual). Finite element definitions, stored in Packet 02, reference the
associated Packet 04 element properties by the property ID.
Two analysis types are available under the PATRAN 2 Neutral File Preference: Structural and Thermal.
Element property sets can reference materials. For those element property sets created under the
Structural type, the following materials are available: Isotropic, 2D Orthotropic, 3D orthotropic, 2D
Anisotropic, 3D Anisotropic and Composite. Element property sets created under the Thermal type can
only reference Thermal Isotropic (TIS) and Thermal Anisotropic (TAN) materials. For more details about
these materials, please refer to the Material Librarysection of this document.
The following pages give an introduction to the Element Properties form, and details of all the element
property definitions supported by the PATRAN 2 Neutral File Preference.