The checklist below quickly summarizes the steps necessary to properly Size a selection of Zones. Once all of the following have been completed, click "Size" for a given selection of Zones.
Note
See Sizing vs. Analysis for recent updates to the Sizing and Analysis workflows. If you'd prefer to run a margin assessment on a given configuration, rather than a sizing, see How to run an Analysis. You'll notice the same basic principles apply.
The first step is to Import a FEM. During this process, HyperX will recognize each Property Card (NASTRAN/Optistruct) or Section Definition (Abaqus) as individual analysis entities. However, these entities are only considered Zones - and therefore can only be Sized - if they have been grouped into a Structure (see "Create" Structures).
Once Structures have been created, the Zones within each Structure can be set up for Sizing. In order to click "Size", the optimization problem must be defined for each Zone. This is done by assigning (1) a Design Property, (2) a Load Property, and (3) an Analysis Property to each Zone. These are explained in the next few sections.
The design space defines the Sizing Mode and parameters for each zone. All design space inputs are applied via Design Property. First, Design Properties should be created (see Create Design Property). Then they should be assigned to their respective Zones (see Assign Design Property).
When selecting and defining a Design Property, the two most consequential decisions are:
-
Concept - what cross-section would you like your Zone to be? Note that panels and beams have their own respective concept options. See: Types of Design Properties
-
Sizing Mode - What sizing strategy will HyperX use to evaluate your Zones? Sizing is implemented by selecting a Sizing Mode and filling out the corresponding variable definitions. See Sizing Modes for more information.
Note
Sizing inputs are treated separately from Analysis inputs - even though they can be defined on the same Design Property.
This requires two parts:
-
Define the load scenarios that will be assessed. This is done by creating:
-
-- AND / OR --
-
-
Define how the element-by-element forces (for each Design Load Case) are processed into a set of Design-to Loads for each Zone.
The FEA Loads Processing Technique is selected and assigned to desired Zones via Load Properties
HyperX offers 100s of native failure criteria for Sizing and Analyzing your structure. Individual methods and their corresponding settings are defined in Failure Modes. Failure Modes are then collected and assigned to selected Zones via Analysis Properties.
Company-or-program-specific methods that are not implemented natively in HyperX can be added to the framework via Analysis Plugins. They can then be used alongside native methods within the Failure Mode/Analysis Property paradigm.
Once each Zone has been assigned all three Properties, they are able to be Sized. Select the Zones you'd like to Size and click 'Size'.