Apply Thickness to Midsurface

Use the Map Thickness tool to apply thickness values to shell elements on midsurfaced geometry.

The thickness will be assigned on the midmesh either on node card, element card, nodal thickness on element card or also as properties on elements depending on the solver interface you are using.

Restriction: Only available in the OptiStruct, Radioss, Abaqus, LS-DYNA, PAM-CRASH 2G, or Nastran solver interfaces.
  1. From the Elements ribbon, Edit tools, click the Map Thickness tool.


    Figure 1.
  2. Optional: On the guide bar, click to define map thickness options.
  3. Activate the Source selector on the guide bar, choose an entity type, then select source entities.
  4. Activate the Target selector on the guide bar, choose an entity type, then select target entities.
  5. On the guide bar, click Apply Thickness.


Figure 2.

Map Thickness Tool

An overview of the Map Thickness tool.



Figure 3.

Use the Map Thickness tool to apply thickness values to shell elements on midsurfaced geometry.

Access
Go to Elements > > Map Thickness.

Options

Thickness output
Defines the location where the thicknesses are assigned
Card image
The type of property to create for the thickness values.
Prefix
Sets the prefix for generating property names.
Minimum thickness
Assign a minimum thickness to the mesh.
Maximum thickness
Assign a maximum thickness to the mesh.
Thickness
The minimum/maximum thickness that can be assigned to the mesh.
Correction method
Interpolate or adjust locations where the thickness cannot be computed correctly.
Assign offset to elements/section
Apply an offset value to elements if they are not in the middle of the selected geometry.
Offset precision
Automatically round assigned offset values, or manually define the range of values that can be rounded into one offset segment.
Decimals
Change the number of significant figures for the assigned offset value.
Maximum thickness range interval
Control the number of thickness groups or properties, such that none will have a thickness interval range greater than the specified value.
Type
Absolute groups thicknesses using the given interval. Relative calculates the absolute thickness interval by multiplying the given interval with the average thickness of the group.
Interval
The interval thickness used for grouping.
Fixed interval
Control thickness properties at constant intervals.
Start thickness
The start thickness used for grouping.
Thickness precision
Automatically round assigned thicknesses, or manually define the range that can be rounded into one thickness assignment.
Decimals
The number of significant figures for the assigned thickness.
Scaling at corners
Apply a scaling algorithm when interpolating thicknesses near t-junctions or corners, in the range of [0, 10].
Assign thickness to mesh outside solid
Assign thickness to mesh outside of the solid geometry.