To officially transition from FEM world to the HyperX environment, you must select elements and/or properties to be added to Structures. Placing a previously unused FEM entity into a Structure is the equivalent of telling HyperX, "I'd like to Size or Analyze this entity." Creating a Structure can be initiated from the Structure tab of the Ribbon, or by right-clicking a particular selection of entities (See Create Structures for more information).
Once a selection of elements or properties in the unused FEM is added to a Structure, these entities become officially part of the HyperX Database. Here are a few guidelines on what this means:
General:
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All selected beam or shell properties are converted to HyperX Zones. All connector elements are converted to HyperX Joints - either element-by-element or property-by-property.
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All Zones and Joints are listed in the Structure Tree beneath their Structure - and their corresponding mesh lines appear black (rather than pink) in the Viewport.
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Any entity in a Structure is ready to be set up for Analysis/Sizing - i.e. only Zones and Joints (not unused FEM) can receive Design, Load, and Analysis Property assignment.
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Only the FEA loads resulting from the elements in Structures will be imported into the Database for Analysis/Sizing.
Zone-Specific:
For each individual Zone, all of the following operations occur upon adding them to a Structure. Review these characteristics by visual verification (using the Indicators button on the View tab of the Ribbon) or by checking the Zone Settings menu (Select Zone > Right-Click > Zone Settings)
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The buckling span of each Zone, which is based on FEM-defined element size, is automatically calculated upon placing that property into a Structure. See Buckling Span Calculations for more information.
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The resulting buckling span can be visually verified by plotting them in the Viewport. On the View tab of the Ribbon, select Indicators > Buckling Spans
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These spans can be numerically verified or manually edited in the Buckling section of the Panel Settings form once that property is assigned to Structure.
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During import, all element forces and moments are transformed to be oriented about the material axis, as opposed to the element normal axis - the matrices for which are defined by angle theta in the example image below, taken for CQUAD elements:
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HyperX will automatically assign a reference plane (the plane upon which the stiffness and loads will be formulated during Sizing/Analysis) and offsets (as applicable) based on the assumed FEM reference plane. See Reference Plane reference guide. Check this on the Panel Settings tab under Reference Plane.
Often, a program may have specific organizational schemes within their finite element model. For consistency and overall clarity of communication, it can be beneficial to incorporate that organization into the Structure creation process. The following common FEM organizational entities are recognized by HyperX. They can be found on the FEM Tree, and users will notice that selecting the node corresponding to a particular entity will result in all elements/properties belonging to that entity becoming selected. This allows them to quickly create Structures corresponding to those groups.
INCLUDE Files
If your model is organized by INCLUDE file, it can be useful to view the FEM Tree in terms of "Include View," indicated in the screenshot below. In this example, by clicking on the Aeroshell - Lower node, all of the elements from the Aeroshell - Lower INCLUDE file is selected. A Structure can now be quickly created by using the right-click menu.
Element Sets
HyperX will also recognize Element Sets - typically invoked with the Nastran ELSET command. Each Element Set corresponds to a node on the FEM Tree, which can then be selected/isolated/etc.
HyperMesh Entities
The HyperMesh preprocessor will export comments containing information on the Components and Assemblies belonging to a particular model. HyperX will recognize these entities as FEM Tree nodes and selectable items as well.
As of HyperX version 2026.1.13, you can automatically create Structures and Sets based on HyperMesh Entities.
During Structure creation, when you've selected a HyperMesh entity, there are now the following options to determine how many Structures to create and how to use HyperMesh Entities to create them:
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One Structure - (Default) Creates one Structure containing all selected Entities.
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Structures per HyperMesh Assembly - Creates many Structures, each corresponding to an Assembly. This assumes the HyperMesh Assembly entity represents a part. The Assembly will contain many Components.
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Structures per HyperMesh Component - Creates many Structures, each corresponding to a Component. This assumes the HyperMesh Component entity represents a part. The Component will contain many Properties.
For the options based on HyperMesh entities, there's an additional option to create "Folders for nested entities". Enabling this option will create a nested folder hierarchy in the Structure that matches the Assembly/Component.
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This assumes that the user’s elements belong to a single Component or Assembly at the lowest level.
During Set creation, when you've selected a HyperMesh entity, there are now the following options to determine how many Sets to create and how to use HyperMesh Entities to create them:
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One Set - (Default) Creates one Set containing all selected Entities.
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Sets per HyperMesh Set - Creates many Sets, each corresponding to an HyperMesh Element Set.
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Sets per HyperMesh Assembly - Creates many Sets, each corresponding to an Assembly. This assumes the HyperMesh Assembly entity represents a part. The Assembly will contain many Components.
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Sets per HyperMesh Component - Creates many Sets, each corresponding to a Component. This assumes the HyperMesh Component entity represents a part. The Component will contain many Properties.