Reference Orientation

Reference orientation of plies.

Reference orientation specifies the 0° 1-direction for each ply. Reference orientation is set either by element or by property and is a rotation from the default solver element system x direction. HyperMesh supports common methods of material orientation for each user profile. Specific definitions vary by user profile. For example, the OptiStruct convention is shown in the following image.
Figure 1.


Material orientation can be set and reviewed through the right-click context menu of the Composite Browser.

Right-click anywhere in white space and select Orient > Material Reference Orientation from the context menu to apply orientations or select Orient > Material Reference Review from the context menu to review orientations.