FBD Panel Plot

Display normal and shear loads of panel structural members.

From the Post ribbon, click the Panel Plot tool.
Figure 1.


Restriction: Only available in the Nastran and OptiStruct solvers.
The tool contains the following:
Panel Entities
Define one or more panel entities.
Properties
Shows all properties of a selected panel entity.
loadcases
List of subcases available inside all of the imported result files.
Panel Plot and Display
Visualization options.
The workflow is:
  1. Create a panel entity.
  2. Set the properties of the selected panel entity.
  3. Select a loadcase.
  4. Set the options for the panel plot.
  5. Display the panel plot for the selected loadcase.

Create Panel Entities

Right-click and select Create.
A dialog opens.
Name
The name of the panel.
Select Elements
A group of elements for the panel.
Find Panel
Allows the tool to create panels based on the selected elements.

Set Properties of the Selected Panel Entity

Select a panel entity.
The properties display.
Name
The name of the panel entity.
ID
The ID of the panel entity.
Color
The color of the panel entity.
Entity List
Select elements of the panel entity.

Select a Loadcase

Select a loadcase for the panel plot.
Figure 2.


Panel Plot Visualization Options

Define visualization options for the panel plot.

Evaluate by
Select what type of data must be shown.
Create Envelope
Activate the checkbox to create an envelope using multiple loadcases.
If the algebraic type is selected, the tool considers positive and negative values to build up maximum and minimum envelopes.
If the absolute type is selected, the tool considers absolute values to build up maximum and minimum envelopes.
Values inside parenthesis refer to the loadcase and simulation in that sequence.
Normal Loads
Activate the checkbox to show normal forces.
Tangential Loads
Activate the checkbox to show tangential forces (shear forces).
Show values
Activate the checkbox to display values.
Tolerance
Loads with an absolute value lower than the tolerance are not displayed.
Arrow Length (%)
Scales panel plot vectors for visualization.
Color
Change the color of normal and tangential loads.
Normal Load at
Select if the normal load will be shown at the center or at the corner of element edges.
Numeric format
Defines the numeric format of the values shown.
Tables
Creates tables with normal and tangential loads for one or multiple panels and for one or multiple loadcases.
The summary table shows all normal and tangential loads for panel entities.
Figure 3.


The min/max table shows minimum and maximum values for normal and tangential loads.
Figure 4.


Display the Panel Plot for the Selected Loadcase


  • Click Apply to show the panel plot.
  • Click Clear to hide the panel plot.
Figure 5.