PLY

Bulk Data Entry Defines the properties of a ply used in ply-based composite definition.

Format

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)
PLY ID MID T THETA SOUT TMANUF DID    
  ESID1 ESID2 ESID3 ESID4 ESID5 ESID6 ESID7 ESID8  
  ESID9 etc.              

Example

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)
PLY 1 2 0.1 45 YES 0.01      
  1                

Definitions

Field Contents SI Unit Example
ID Unique ply identification.
Integer
Specifies an identification number for the ply.
<String>
Specifies a user-defined string label for the ply. 4

No default (Integer > 0 or <String>)

  
MID Material identification number. Must refer to a MAT1, MAT2 or MAT8 Bulk Data Entry.

No default (Integer > 0)

  
T Ply thickness.

No default (Real > 0.0)

  
THETA Ply orientation angle, in degrees, of the longitudinal direction relative to the x-axis of the material coordinate system associated with a given element. If no material coordinate system is specified for the element, the angle is measured relative to side 1-2 of this element.

Default = 0.0 (Real or blank)

  
SOUT Stress, Strain, and Failure Index output request. 2 3
YES
NO (Default)
  
TMANUF Thickness of one manufacturable ply. Defines the thickness of one manufacturable ply. This parameter is used during sizing optimization to automatically create discrete design variables such that the thickness of the ply bundle is equal to a multiple of TMANUF.

Default = blank (Real or blank)

  
DID Draping identification number. Must refer to a DRAPE Bulk Data Entry.

Default = blank (Integer > 0)

  
ESID# Element SET identification numbers. Lists the elements for which this PLY card is defined.

A minimum of one ESID# should be specified.

No default (Integer > 0)

  

Comments

  1. The PLY card is used in combination with the PCOMPP and STACK cards to create composite properties through the ply-based definition.
  2. Stress, Strain and Failure Index output for the PLY is activated by setting SOUT to YES. In addition, the CFAILURE I/O Option should be defined. Failure Index output for PLY's also requires that the FT and SB fields be defined on the corresponding PCOMPP entries, and that stress/strain allowables on the referenced materials are defined.
  3. An additional piece of information available with ply results is "failure index for the element," which is the maximum of failure indices for individual plies in this element. Only the plies with SOUT set to YES are considered in the evaluation of this maximum.
  4. String based labels allow for easier visual identification of ply entries, including when being referenced in the PLYID# field of STACK entries. For more details, refer to String Label Based Input File in the Bulk Data Input File.
  5. This card is represented as a ply in HyperMesh.