Element and mesh attributes

Depending on your selected solver, you can define the following types of element and mesh attributes.

• Simcenter Nastran and MSC Nastran element attributes are described in the Simcenter Nastran Quick Reference Guide.

• ANSYS element attributes and KEYOPTS are described in the ANSYS Help library. See ANSYS elements for more information.

• Abaqus element attributes are described in the Abaqus Help library. See Abaqus elements for more information.

• LS-DYNA element attributes are described in the LS-DYNA Keyword User's Manual as noted below.0D elements — See ELEMENT_MASS_{OPTION} or ELEMENT_INERTIA_{OPTION} 1D elements — See ELEMENT_BEAM_{OPTION}{OPTION or ELEMENT_DISCRETE2D elements — See ELEMENT_SHELL{OPTION}

• I-deas element attributes are described in the I-deas Element Library and I-deas External Solvers User's Guide.

• Simcenter Samcef elements are described in the elements page in the Simcenter Samcef solver documentation.

Solver	Element type	Element associated data	Mesh associated data	Notes
Nastran	Shell/Plane Stress/ChockingCQUAD4CQUAD8****CQUADR CTRIA3 CTRIA6****CTRIAR	Material orientationNodal thickness Z offset	Material orientationShell thicknessShell offset	The nodal thickness for an element overrides the thickness defined in the mesh. For more information, see Shell thickness.
CQUADX4CQUADX8CTRAX3CTRAX6CTRIAX6CPLSTN3CPLSTN4CPLSTN6CPLSTN8	N/A	Material orientation
CPLSTS3CPLSTS4CPLSTS6****CPLSTS8	N/A	Material orientationThicknessNumber of instances
CTETRA	N/A	Material orientation
Lumped MassCONM1CONM2	Mass	Mass
Beam/Bar****CBAR CBEAM	Section orientation Section offsetPin flags (end releases)	Section orientation Section offsetPin flags (end releases)	With 1D meshes, the element-associated data always overrides the mesh-associated data.
Rotor connectionCBEAR2	N/A	Bearing coordinate system
Rotor connectionCLINK	N/A	Misalignment orientation
Spring****CELAS2	Spring stiffness	Spring stiffnessDamping coefficientStress coefficient
Spring-Damper****CBUSH	Spring-damper orientation	Spring-damper orientationOffset
Spring-Damper****CBUSH2	N/A	Bushing orientation
Gap****CGAP	Gap orientation	Gap orientation
CONROD	N/A	MaterialAreaTorsional constantTorsional stress coefficientNonstructural mass
RSPLINE	Dependent degree of freedom constraints (Ci)	(D/L) Ratio of the diameter of the elastic tube to the sum of the lengths of all segments
RBE3	Weighting factors (WTi)Dependent degree-of-freedom constraints (UM)	Core node degrees-of-freedomLeg node degrees-of-freedom	For more information, see Importing RBE2 and RBE3 elements.
Kinematic jointCJOINT	N/A	Element orientation, control node	The control node is used by the solver to apply a driver and/or store results. For more information, see Control nodes.
Coupling elementFOU3	N/A	Coupling method
ANSYS	SHELL63SHELL91SHELL93SHELL99SHELL181****SHELL281	Material orientationNodal thickness	Material orientationShell thickness	The nodal thickness for an element overrides the shell thickness defined in the physical property table. This value is stored in the R or RMORE card in the ANSYS input file.If you import an ANSYS input file, R cards will be translated to the physical property table rather than element-associated data.
SOLID45SOLID72SOLID92SOLID185SOLID187	N/A	Material orientation
BEAM4BEAM44BEAM188	Section orientation Section offsetEnd releases	Section orientation Section offsetEnd releases
Abaqus	S8RS8R5S4S4RS4R5STRI65S3S3RSTRI3	N/A	Material orientation
C3D4C3D4HC3D10C3D10HC3D10M****C3D10MH C3D10I	N/A	Material orientation
B31B21B31H****B21H	Section orientation	Section orientation
Spring2	Spring orientationSpring stiffness	Spring orientation
Rigid	Kinetic coupling	Kinetic coupling
LS-DYNA	ELEMENT_SHELL	Material orientationNodal thickness	Material orientationShell offset	If you select Use Element Associated Data for the mesh, and not all elements have material orientations defined, those elements are written to the keyword file as *ELEMENT_SHELL. This is the same as selecting None for the Keyword Option.
ELEMENT_SOLID	N/A	Material orientation
ELEMENT_BEAM	Section orientation	Section orientationSection offsetEnd releases
Thermal/FlowSimcenter 3D Electronic Systems CoolingSimcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal	TRI3 Thin ShellTRI6 Thin ShellQUAD4 Thin Shell****QUAD8 Thin Shell	Material orientationNodal thickness	Shell thickness	The element nodal thickness overrides the shell thickness defined in the mesh only for 2D shell collectors with Type set to:Thin Shell****Multi-Layer Shell UniformFor more information, see Shell thickness.
Tet 4Tet 10Hex8****Hex20	N/A	N/A
1D Beam****1D Duct	N/A	N/A
0D Lump	N/A	N/A
Ideas Universal file	Linear Beam	Section orientation Section offsetEnd releases	Section orientation Section offsetEnd releases
Simcenter Samcef	T28, T29 Mindlin shells	Material orientationThickness	Material orientationThicknessOffsetMINDNon-linearitiesUser Element AttributesSamcef Mesh Attribute
T155, T156 Heterosis shell	Material orientationThickness	Material orientationThicknessOffsetsNon-linearitiesUser Element AttributesSamcef Mesh Attribute
T58,T57 membrane****T53 membrane	Material orientationThickness	Material orientationThicknessNon-linearitiesUser Element AttributesSamcef Mesh Attribute
T34, T35 thermal membrane****T223, T224 thermal shell membrane	Material orientationThickness	Material orientationThicknessSamcef Mesh Attribute
T151 rod	N/A	Non-linearitiesUser Element AttributesSamcef Mesh Attribute
T22 beam	Section orientation OffsetEnd releases	Section orientation OffsetEnd releases User Element AttributesSamcef Mesh AttributeLine Loads application point
T47, T8, T46, T247****T154, T153 solid	Physical property table	Material orientationIncompressible ConditionUser Element AttributesSamcef Mesh Attribute
T145, T147 cohesive	N/A	OffsetsUser Element AttributesSamcef Mesh Attribute
T106, T039, T105, T103 solid	Physical property table	Material orientationUser Element AttributesSamcef Mesh Attribute
T221 duct	N/A	User Element AttributesSamcef Mesh Attribute
T237 nodal capacity	Mass	Volume and Mass Surface Flux, Surface Convection and Surface Radiation Samcef Mesh Attribute
Concentrated mass	Mass	MassInertiaCenter of gravity's offsetsSamcef Mesh AttributeCSYS
Bush	Orientation	Uniaxial flagOrientationOffsetsSamcef Mesh Attribute
Grounded Bush	Orientation	OrientationSamcef Mesh Attribute
Rigid link	N/A	Core node Mass and InertiaLeg nodes optionsStiffnessCTEDummy behaviorSamcef Mesh AttributeResults
RIGA rigid	N/A	StiffnessConstraints ControlSamcef Mesh AttributeResults
Mean element	N/A	Constrained Dofs (structural)Lagrange Option (thermal)Samcef Mesh Attribute (structural)
T15, T26 Axisymmetric Solid	Orientation	Material orientationNon-linearitiesUser Element AttributesSamcef Mesh Attribute
T48 Axisymmetric Shell	N/A	OffsetNon-linearitiesUser Element AttributesSamcef Mesh Attribute
T30 Axisymmetric Membrane	N/A	OffsetNon-linearitiesUser Element AttributesSamcef Mesh Attribute
T34, T35 Axisymmetric Solid	Material orientation	Material orientationUser Element AttributesSamcef Mesh Attribute
T31 Axisymmetric Membrane	N/A	User Element AttributesSamcef Mesh Attribute
T15, T26 Plane Stress	Material orientationThickness	Material OrientationThickness SourceNon-linearitiesUser Element AttributesSamcef Mesh Attribute
T15, T26 Plane Strain	Material orientation	Material OrientationNon-linearitiesUser Element AttributesSamcef Mesh Attribute
T48 Plane Strain Shell	N/A	OffsetNon-linearitiesUser Element AttributesSamcef Mesh Attribute
T30 Plane Strain Membrane	N/A	OffsetNon-linearitiesUser Element AttributesSamcef Mesh Attribute
T30 Plane Stress Rod	N/A	Non-linearitiesUser Element AttributesSamcef Mesh Attribute

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Element and mesh attributes, Simcenter 3D 2021.1 Series

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