Create Beam and Bar Elements

Use the Beams tool to create 1D beam and bar elements.

Bar elements are 1D elements created in a space between two or three nodes of a model where beam properties are desired.

The nodes are related to each other based on the properties of the bar or beam element connecting them. Properties associated with bar elements include vector orientation, offset vectors that end at A and B, or at A, B, and C, and pin flags to tell it what degree of freedom should carry through the beam.

Bar elements are displayed as a line between two nodes with BAR2 or BAR3 written at the centroid of the element.
Bar2
Configuration 60 - 1D (1st order) elements with 2 nodes used to model axial, bending, and torsion behavior. Bar2 elements have a property reference, an orientation vector, offset vectors and ends A and B, and pin flags at ends A and B.
Bar3
Configuration 63 - 1D (2nd order) elements with 3 nodes used to model axial, bending, and torsion behavior. Bar3 elements have a property reference, an orientation vector, offset vectors and ends A and B, and pin flags at ends A and B.
  1. From the 1D ribbon, select the Beams tool.
    Figure 1.


  2. Define the element.
    OptionAction
    Type Select a type of element to use when creating the beam.
    Linear 1D Create one-dimensional elements based on a projection of Elems A to Elems B.
    Elems A Select the elements where you want the elements to begin.
    Restriction: Only available when the Linear 1D check box is selected.
    Elems B Select the elements where you want the elements to end.
    Restriction: Only available when the Linear 1D check box is selected.
    Density A-B Specify the number of beam elements you want created between each of the selected elements.
    Restriction: Only available when the Linear 1D check box is selected.
    Node A, Node B, and Node C Select one node at each end of the beam.

    Node A and Node B are available for Bar2 elements.

    Node A, Node B, and Node C are available for Bar3 elements.
    Orientation Type Select how beam are oriented in 3D space.

    Use the standard plane and vector selector to determine the orientation of the beam. Additional options to define orientation by axes, Plane are available by clicking on above image in direction.

    Direction
    Select three points to define a plane whose normal serves as the vector using the N1, N2, and N3 selectors.
    Node
    Select a node to specify the vector orientation using the direction node selector.
    Property Select a property to assign to new and existing beam elements.
    Pin Release A / Pin Release B Specify the degrees of freedom which are not intended to transmit force.
    Offsets Method Select the Beam’s offset direction(s), which depend on how the beam element's coordinate system is defined.
    Displacement
    Applies only if the referenced grid points have a displacement system defined.
    Elemental
    Offset in the directions defined by the beam element's own orientation system.
    Offset A / Offset B Specify the exccy and exccz parameter values for the beam offsets. Because beam elements are modeled as 1D objects, these values represent the distance between the real-world edge of a beam and its center axis. For example, if the beam was cylindrical in shape, A and B would determine where the edge of the beam would attach to another element. However, the offsets would represent the radius of the cylindrical beam and therefore would identify where the beam’s central axis lay in relation to the connection points.
  3. Click Create.

Update Beam and Bar Elements

Use the Entity Editor to update Bar2 and Bar3 elements for the desired keyword.

This includes modifying the assigned nodes, property, orientation, offset, pin releases, and so on where applicable for the solver.

Note: To change the element type, see Change Element Type.