FEM Filter Files

FEM Filter Files allow for the inclusion or exclusion FEM properties or elements when importing the finite element model. This is useful when importing a very large FEM for which only a small portion is of interest for Analysis or Sizing.

The Filter File is a text file that contains lists of properties and/or elements that will either be included or excluded when the FEM is imported. In the example below, properties 3, 4, 5, 7, and 10-12 will be included and elements 1100-1200 will be excluded when importing the FEM.

# Include all elements with these properties.
INCLUDE PROPERTY
3:5,7
10:12
# Exclude these elements.
EXCLUDE ELEMENT
1100 THRU 1200

Managing Filter Files

Basic Rules

Section Keywords

Each section contains a list of IDs. Each section begins with a section keyword. The following are valid section keywords:

INCLUDE PROPERTIES

INCLUDE SECTIONS

INCLUDE ELEMENTS

EXCLUDE PROPERTIES

EXCLUDE SECTIONS

EXCLUDE ELEMENTS

INCLUDE sections define IDs to include and vice versa.

PROPERTIES and SECTIONS refer to Nastran property IDs and Abaqus section IDs respectively. Both keywords are supported in all FEM formats. Abaqus section names are not supported. Abaqus section names are converted to section IDs.

Number Ranges

After the section the keyword, a comma separated list of IDs is required.

INCLUDE PROPERTIES
1,2,3,4

Ranges can be specified using colons (:).

INCLUDE PROPERTIES
1:4

Ranges can also be specified using the word THRU.

INCLUDE PROPERTIES
1 THRU 4

Multiple ranges and scalar values can be place on a single line.

EXCLUDE ELEMENTS
1001:1099, 1111
2222, 2233, 2244 THRU 2299

Comments

Comment lines must start with # or $. Comments must be place on their own line.

# Frames 20-22
$ Another insightful comment
INCLUDE ELEMENTS
120001:120999
121001:121999
122001:122999

Detailed Rules

The following rules describe the filter behavior for more complex scenarios.

More than one section can be included in the file, in any combination, in any order (you can have both an INCLUDE PROPERTY and EXCLUDE ELEMENT section, for example). There can be any number of sections. Two sections of the same type will be combined.

The example below will include both properties 1 and 2.
```
INCLUDE PROPERTY
1
INCLUDE PROPERTY
2
```
Excludes override includes. If a specific property is included, but an element with that property is excluded, then that element won't be imported. Conversely, if an element is included, but it's property is excluded, then that element won't be imported.
There are two other important keywords: ALL and NONE.

ALL can be used with either of the INCLUDE statements. If included in an INCLUDE list, ALL will override any other includes of that type.
```
INCLUDE PROPERTIES
ALL
```
NONE can be used with either of the EXCLUDE statements. If included in an EXCLUDE list, NONE will override any other excludes of that type.
```
EXCLUDE ELEMENTS
NONE
```

Examples

The following will import all properties except 1, 2, and 3.

EXCLUDE PROPERTY
1:3

It is functionality equivalent to this one:

INCLUDE PROPERTY
ALL
EXCLUDE PROPERTY
1:3

and this one (reverse section order):

EXCLUDE PROPERTY
1:3
INCLUDE PROPERTY
ALL

and this one:

INCLUDE PROPERTY
ALL
99
EXCLUDE PROPERTY
1:3

In the last case, the ALL function overrides the specific entry of 99 (so that entry is basically ignored).

Managing Filter Files

Basic Rules

Detailed Rules

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