Material orientation

Video: Define material orientation

When using orthotropic or anisotropic materials or composite laminates, you must define a material coordinate system that is consistent across a meshed face.

Defining the material orientation vector for shell elements

You define the material orientation by specifying a coordinate system or a vector. The solver uses the X-axis of the specified coordinate system or vector as the material orientation vector.

When you define the material orientation vector for shell elements, you rotate only the X-axis and Y-axis in the plane of the element. The Z-axis is fixed and is normal to the element. The orthogonality of X, Y, and Z means you only need to orient the X-axis. The right-hand rule applies.

For shell elements, the material orientation vector is projected onto the plane of the selected element to determine the material orientation.

Nastran CQUAD4 element, MCID example

Depending on the solver you are using, you can specify the material orientation vector using these Material Orientation Methods:

• Coordinate System/MCID — Specify a coordinate system. The solver uses the X-axis as the material orientation vector.

• Tangent Curve — On the curve or edge you select, the software finds the closest point to the element centroid and sets the X-axis of the material coordinate system to be tangent to that geometry.

• Surface Normal — For each element, the software finds the closest point on the face you specify to the element centroid and then sets the vector's primary direction as normal to the face at that point.

• Vector — Specify the vector explicitly using the vector definition tools.

• Physical Property Table — Inherits the material orientation defined in the physical property table that is specified for the mesh.

• Orientation Angle — Specify an angle. The software orients the X-axis of the material coordinate system using the specified angle from the first edge of the element.

Defining the material orientation vector for solid elements

For solid elements, you orient all three axes of the material coordinate system; orienting two axes automatically derives the third. To orient the primary and secondary axis, you can use one of the options from the Material Orientation Method list:

• Tangent Curve — On the curve or edge you select, the software finds the closest point to the element centroid and sets the X-axis of the material coordinate system to be tangent to that geometry.

• Vector — Specify the vector explicitly using the vector definition tools.

• Surface Normal — Select a surface. The software sets the primary axis to be normal to the surface.

• Physical Property Table — Inherits the material orientation defined in the physical property table that is specified for the mesh.

• Element Free Face Proximity — Defines the material orientation vector based on the normal of the element face or faces that you select. If you select the free face of one or more of the elements.If you select a single element face, the software uses the normal of the that face to define the vector for all the elements.If you select multiple element faces, the software uses the normal of those faces to define the vector for the elements in proximity to each selected element face.

• Spatial Field — Defines the material orientation vector for the elements as a field.Note: When you import a simulation that contains material orientation definitions for 3D elements, the software imports the material orientation as Field data. These imported material orientations appear with the Material Orientation Method of Spatial Field.For the Nastran and Abaqus solvers, the Import 3D MOVs as field data option must be selected on the Import Simulation dialog box. For more information, see Import Simulation dialog box.

When the Material Orientation Method list is set to any option other than Physical Property Table, you can use the Rotation and Rotation Angle options to rotate any of the three axes of the material coordinate system.

Defining material orientation at mesh and element level

With some solvers, you can define a material coordinate system for all elements in a mesh and you can use a different material orientation for a subset of those elements.

Material orientation support for all solvers is summarized in the following table.

Solver	Element family	Location in Pre/Post	Supported definition methods
Nastran	Shell	Mesh Associated Data	MCID (coordinate system definition)Tangent CurveVectorOrientation Angle
Element Associated Data	Coordinate system definitionVector Projection
Solid	Mesh Associated Data	Tangent CurveVectorSurface NormalPhysical Property TableElement Free Face ProximitySpatial Field
Physical Property Table	Coordinate system definition
ANSYS	Shell	Mesh Associated Data	Coordinate system definitionTangent CurveVector
Element Associated Data	Coordinate system definitionVector Projection
Solid	Mesh Associated Data	Coordinate system definitionTangent CurveVectorSurface NormalElement Free Face ProximitySpatial Field
Abaqus	Shell	Mesh Associated Data	Tangent CurveVectorPhysical Property Table
Physical Property Table	Coordinate system definition*ORIENTATION keyword
Solid	Mesh Associated Data	Tangent CurveVectorSurface NormalPhysical Property TableElement Free Face ProximitySpatial Field
Physical Property Table	Coordinate system definition*ORIENTATION keyword defines an origin and point A on the X-axis and point B on the Y-axis.
Axisymmetric solid	Mesh Associated Data	Tangent CurveVector
Physical Property Table	Coordinate system definition*ORIENTATION keyword defines an origin and point A on the X-axis and point B on the Y-axis.
LS-DYNA	Shell	Mesh Associated Data	Coordinate system definitionAngle offset
Element Associated Data	Coordinate system definitionVector Projection
Solid	Mesh Associated Data	Coordinate system definitionThe X and Y-axis are converted to vectors.
Simcenter 3D Thermal/Flow, Simcenter 3D Electronic Systems Cooling, and Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal	Shell	2D Mesh Collector	Coordinate SystemOrientation AngleTangent CurveVector
Solid	3D Mesh Collector	Coordinate SystemTangent CurveSurface NormalVectorSpatial FieldElement Free Face Proximity
Simcenter Samcef	Shell	Mesh Associated Data	MCID (coordinate system definition)Tangent CurveVectorOrientation Angle
Element Associated Data	Coordinate system definitionVector Projection
Solid	Mesh Associated Data	Tangent CurveVectorSurface NormalPhysical Property TableElement Free Face ProximitySpatial Field
Physical Property Table	Coordinate system definition

Displaying the material orientation

You can use the Element Material Orientation command to display the X-axes of the material coordinate systems on each element face. The arrows in the following example correspond to the X-axes of the material coordinate systems.

For more information, see View material orientation graphically.

Solver export support

The following table summarizes how each solver formats material orientation definition when you solve or export the solver input file.

Solver	Element Family	Material orientation is exported...
Nastran	Shell	At the element level either as an angle or a projection of the X-axis of a coordinate system.
Solid	At the physical property level as a coordinate system. Can also be specified at the element level using the MATCID bulk data entry.
ANSYS	Shell	At the element level as element coordinate system.
Solid
Abaqus	Shell	At the physical property level as keyword *ORIENTATION.
Solid
Axisymmetric solid
LS-DYNA	Shell	At the element level either as an angle or a projection of the X-axis of a coordinate system.
Solid	At the element level in the form of two vectors.
Simcenter 3D Thermal/Flow, Simcenter 3D Electronic Systems Cooling, and Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal	Shell	At the element level as element coordinate system.
Solid	At the element level either as an angle or as the projection of the X-axis of a coordinate system.
Simcenter Samcef	Shell	At the element level.
Solid	At the element level.

How do I

View material orientation graphically

Define Nastran 2D element material orientation

Define Nastran 3D element material orientation

Define Abaqus 2D element material orientation

Define Abaqus 3D element material orientation

Define ANSYS 2D element material orientation

Define ANSYS 3D element material orientation

Define LS-DYNA 2D element material orientation

Define LS-DYNA 3D element material orientation

Define 2D element material orientation (Simcenter 3D Thermal/Flow, Electronic Systems Cooling, and Space Systems Thermal)

Define 3D element material orientation (Simcenter 3D Thermal/Flow, Electronic Systems Cooling, and Space Systems Thermal)

Define the material orientation for elements (Simcenter Samcef)

Define 2D element material orientation (Simcenter Samcef)

Define orthotropic thermal conductivity in a cylindrical mesh (Simcenter 3D Thermal/Flow, Electronic Systems Cooling, and Space Systems Thermal)

Quick links

Command reference

Pre/Post video examples

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Material orientation, Simcenter 3D 2021.1 Series

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