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Ply Manager

The Ply Manager features a tabular representation of Ply Sequences and utilities for managing them.

Overview

To open the Ply Manager:

  1. Select a Structure that contains Plies.

  2. Right-click and select "Manage Plies" or click the "Ply Manager" button on the Composite tab of the Ribbon.

plyManager_open.png

This form is used to create, edit, delete, and shuffle Plies on the Structure. The table in the center of the form displays all of the Plies for the Structure, grouped by Sequence. This table indicates name, orientation, thickness, material, and variable fiber direction settings (if active) of each Ply. Individual Plies can be edited by double-clicking rows in the table. Individual or multiple Plies can be edited by selecting one or more rows and clicking the right-most button on the form.

Important

Changes made to individual to Plies will not be committed to the Database until the "Apply" button is clicked on the Ply Manager, at which point all changes will be committed at once.

Additionally, Ply coverage can be previewed in the HyperX viewport by highlighting rows in the table.

plyManager_coverageHighlight.png

Tabular Layout

Each row in the table represents one Ply in a Sequence and can be modified on its own or as part of a group of other Plies/Sequences. Each Sequence contains one or more Plies and are grouped by parts of Structures.

There are two column layouts based on whether Plies in this Structure have Advanced Features enabled.

Basic

plyManager_basicLayout.png

The basic data shown are:

  1. Sequence

  2. Ply Name

  3. Ply Orientation

  4. Thickness (associated with the selected Material)

  5. Material

Advanced

When a Ply has advanced features enabled, columns will be added to the table corresponding to the enabled features. To enable advanced features:

  1. Select one or more Plies and right-click.

  2. Choose "Edit Selected Plies...".

    plyManager_advanced1.png

  3. Expand the Advanced option.

    plyDefinition_advancedOptions.png

  4. Click the boxes to enable advanced features.

Advanced Features include:

  • Variable Fiber Direction - There are two options:

    1. Discrete Fields - Per element definition of the VFD which takes in an orientation vector. This Discrete Field may be utilized by a package to modify the analysis associated with the fiber direction.

    2. CAD Curves - Assigns a CAD Curves per Ply. This may be utilized to generate a Discrete Field with a fiber direction per Element in the Ply.

    Tip

    To assign Discrete Fields or CAD Curves through automapping see How To Map Fiber Directions to Plies.

  • Tool Surface - Define the tool surface of the Ply which is used by CAD sync function. There are three options:

    1. FEM, Full-Structure

    2. FEM, Subset

    3. CAD

After enabling advanced options, the Ply Manager will expand with additional options based on enabled features.

plyManager_advanced2.png

  1. Variable Fiber Direction - Toggles the Variable Fiber Direction (VFD) Discrete Field for the Ply. This does not delete the association for the Discrete Field but excludes it in the analysis.

  2. VFD Discrete Field - The VFD Discrete Field associated with the Ply. This Discrete Field is a per-Element vector.

  3. VFD CAD Curves - The associated CAD Curves per Ply used to generate the VFD Discrete Field.

Tabular Controls

plyManager_topRibbon.png

The buttons along the top of the form are grouped based on related features and provide the following operations for modifying Sequences and Plies:

  1. Create/Delete

    plyManager_createDelButtons.png

    1. Insert new (empty) Sequence.

    2. Insert new Ply in a selected Sequence.

    3. Delete a Ply/Sequence.

  2. Cut/Copy/Paste

    plyManager_cutCopyPaste.png

    1. Cut Plies. Ply(s) not removed until a paste operation is performed. Cut Ply(s) are grayed out until pasted or the operation is canceled.

    2. Copy Plies.

    3. Paste (Insert) Plies. There are three options to control where to insert pasted Ply:

      1. Below selected Sequence.

      2. Into selected Sequence.

      3. Insert in reverse order.

    4. Mirror Plies - Mirrors selected Ply(s) along a CAD Plane currently selected in the Viewport.

  3. Move Sequences/Plies

    plyManager_moveButtons.png

    1. Move Sequence up.

    2. Move Sequence down.

    3. Move Ply up within Sequence.

    4. Move Ply down within Sequence.

    5. Reverse Plies.

  4. Merge/Split Plies

    plyManager_mergeSplit.png

    1. Merge selected Plies - Combines the coverage of selected Plies into a single Ply.

    2. Split Ply - Elements can be selected to move a portion of the Ply coverage into a new ply.

  5. FEM and CAD Coverage Syncing

    fem2CadButtons.png

    1. Sync Coverage - See "Define Ply Coverage" for more information. There are three options:

      1. Update CAD Curve Names - As of HyperX version 2026.1.13, CAD Curves generated for Ply boundaries contain metadata in the name of the Curve. If updates have been made to Curves after generation, this button will update the names without regenerating the Curves.

      2. FEM to CAD Sync - Generates CAD boundaries around the perimeter of the FEM elements the Ply covers.

      3. CAD to FEM Sync - Determines which FEM elements fall within a CAD curve that defines the perimeter of the Ply.

    2. FEM to CAD Sync Settings - Dropdown with various settings related to syncing and Curve generation fidelity and Curve management (e.g. deleting/recreating vs updating, single Composite Curve vs many Curves per Ply).

  6. Check for Contiguous Ply Coverage

    continguityButton.png

    Select a Ply and press this button to check whether the FEM Elements defined in that Ply’s “Geometry” section are contiguous or if they form islands.

  7. Variable Fiber Direction Utilities

    fiberDirectionButtons.png

    1. Generate Discrete Fields from CAD Curves - If the selected Plies have CAD Curves assigned as fiber directions, a Discrete Field will be generated for each Ply with fiber directions for each element in that Ply.

    2. Interpolate fiber directions - If the selected Plies have Discrete Fields assigned as fiber directions, this process will find elements in those Plies with missing fiber directions and interpolate the direction from adjacent elements.

    3. Map Fiber Directions - See How To Map Fiber Directions to Plies for more information. There are four options:

      1. Discrete Fields - Opens a utility to quickly and automatically assign many Discrete Fields to many Plies based on a naming scheme on the variable fiber direction column.

      2. CAD Curves - Opens a utility to quickly and automatically assign many CAD Curves to many Plies based on a naming scheme.

      3. Variable Thickness - Opens a utility to quickly and automatically assign many Discrete Fields to many Plies based on a naming scheme on the variable thickness column.

      4. Strength/Stiffness Modifier - Opens a utility to quickly and automatically assign many Discrete Fields to many Plies based on a naming scheme on the strength/stiffness column.

  8. Import/Export/Edit

    importExportButtons.png

    1. Import/Export Settings - Additional HDF5 Import and Export Settings. See "Import Plies" for more information.

    2. Import - See "Import Plies" for supported formats and more information.

    3. Export - See "Export Plies" for supported formats and more information.

    4. Edit - Opens the Ply Definition form for selected single or multiple Plies.

  9. Generate Laminate Family

    genLFButton.png

    Generate a new Laminate Family and assign to Zones based on the Plies in the Ply Manager. Each Sequence will be a layer in the Laminate Family’s MSS. Every unique stack generated by various Ply coverages will be a Candidate Laminate in the Family.

Modifying Plies

Editing Plies opens the “Ply Definition” form where you can view/edit the data and settings for selected Plies.

Note

See How to Analyze Plies for more information about manually modifying and analyzing plies.

Editing Plies in the Ply Manager will cause Analysis Overrides on the corresponding Design Properties to be updated. Conversely, manually changing the Analysis Overrides from a Design Property will cause existing Plies to be deleted.

Important

Changes made to individual to Plies will not be committed to the Database until the "Apply" button is clicked on the Ply Manager, at which point all changes will be committed at once.

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