Displaying an element’s material orientation

After you define the material orientation at the mesh level or element level, you can view the material coordinate system for each element in the graphics window. Use the Element Material Orientation command to display the material orientation of 2D or 3D elements in your model.

To indicate the material orientation, the software displays an arrow on each element that indicates each direction of the material coordinate system.

• For 2D elements, an arrow displays on each element to indicate the X-axis of the material coordinate system

• For 3D elements, you can view one, two, or three directions of the material coordinate systems. You can view the first, second, and third directions independently or all three simultaneously.

You can use options in the Element Material Orientation dialog box to control:

• The elements for which the software displays the material orientation.

• The colors in which to display the arrows.

• Whether to hide the arrowheads.

• The material coordinate system directions to display.

• Whether to display the orientation on only exterior solid elements.

Note:

After you finish viewing the material orientation vectors, select View→Operation→Refresh to clear the arrow symbols from the display.

Material orientation examples

Example 2D material orientation

Only first direction shown (first direction is tangent to the curved geometry)

Complete coordinate systems shown (green is first direction; red is second direction)

Where do I find it?

Application	Pre/Post
Prerequisite	A FEM file active
Command Finder	Element Material Orientation

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Displaying an element’s material orientation, Simcenter 3D 2021.1 Series

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