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Bar Elements

Supported Elements

Nastran/Optistruct

CROD, CBAR, (as of Version 2024.2) CBEAM

Abaqus

B31 or B32

Bar Element Sections

HyperX can import laminates and isotropic thicknesses directly from the FEM, if desired. See Import FEM Properties and Materials. In this workflow, HyperX supports:

Nastran/Optistruct

Prefer PBARL, which allows HyperX to import dimensions. Also support PBAR, PROD for ROD elements.

As of Version 2024.2, released in October 2024, HyperX also supports: PBEAM, PBEAML

A Note on PBEAM/PBEAML Support

In the workflow involving Importing Properties and Materials to write margins to an as-modeled design, there are limitations to the PBEAML cross-sections supported for import. See table below.

PBEAML_Design_Import_Support.png

Abaqus

Beam Sections or Beam General Sections.

Bar Element Orientation

Bar elements must be oriented properly with respect to the HyperX convention. Failure to do so leads to invalid results. The figure below shows the beam orientation convention for HyperX, Nastran (and Optistruct), and Abaqus.

beam_csys_comparison.png

Grid A to Grid B direction and orientation vector both affect how a beam section will appear in HyperX.

  • Flipping Grid A and Grid B rotates a beam section lengthwise (green indicator below).

    • Ex. Z beam has cap and foot pointing the wrong directions.

  • Changing the orientation vector rotates the beam section about the long axis (orange indicator below).

BarElement-GridAGridB.png

A Note to Abaqus Users...

Bar orientations in Abaqus are defined with vectors or with an additional node.

In Abaqus, bars defined with additional nodes will take precedence over any bar orientation vector definition. It is for this reason that the preferred method of defining beam orientations is with additional nodes. Any bar orientation defined with vectors will be reprinted to the iteration FEM using additional nodes. This serves to preserve the integrity of the initial beam orientations.

For beam elements belonging to stringer segments, the beam normal vectors (shown as Nastran +Y below) should point "out" of the aeroshell. This will ensure that the FEA loads are transformed correctly.

beam-discrete_orientation.png

Verify Bar Element Orientations

Verify bar element normals by turning on the corresponding indicators on the View tab of the Ribbon. After a beam has been Sized/Analyzed, you can also verify the orientation by turning on the Cross Section view.

BeamOrientations-Verify.png

Bar Element Offsets

Bar offset vectors are defined by the distance from the centroid of the beam section to some reference point. Bar offsets are not imported from the FEM. If an offset is applied to a HyperX beam, that offset will be automatically computed and exported to the FEM during the FEM update process.

HyperX offers three options for introducing offsets into beam sizing/analysis. These are set on a Zone-by-Zone basis on the Reference Plane section of the Beam Settings form. In this case, "Top" is in the direction of the HyperX Z-axis.

beam_offsets.png

Vertical vs Lateral Offsets

HyperX supports vertical (in the +/- HyperX Z-direction) bar offsets. Lateral offsets are not supported and will be deleted on FEM export/update.

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