Commands

Commands that operate on structural elements. On this page:

Structural elements are explicit finite-element based objects formulated using shell and beam theory. As with zones, all element force-displacement calculations are incremental.

Each individual element is connected to others via structural nodes. Interactions with other objects (primarily zones) are handled by structural links associated with the nodes.

There are six types of structural elements supported—each specifies both a default internal behavior and a default link formulation. There are three linear elements (beam, cable, and pile) and three two-dimensional plate elements (shell, liner, and geogrid).

The structural element logic differs from other modules in how it handles id numbers. Within this module, id numbers refer to collections of elements, identifying a given beam or cable structure that may be constructed of any number of individual elements. Each element is identified by a component-id number, which is unique to that element. Nodes and links may be selected by id number, which selects nodes that are attached to element collections with those numbers. Nodes and links also have their own individual component-id numbers.

For more detail, please see General Formulation of Structural-Element Logic.

[CS: previous sentence had this following “see”: the detailed :flag2:-structural element formulation- section. : check with DR that link supplied above is correct; also check whether that section is properly located (it could reasonably be moved adjacent to this topic)]

Structural Commands

Commands that affect the structural element logic in general.

structure damping
structure dynamic damping
structure list information
structure mechanical damping
structure ratio
structure results
structure safety-factor
structure scale-rotational-mass

beam commands

Commands that apply to beam elements.

structure beam apply
structure beam create
structure beam delete
structure beam group
structure beam hide
structure beam history
structure beam import
structure beam initialize
structure beam list
structure beam property
structure beam refine
structure beam select

cable commands

Commands that apply to cable elements.

structure cable apply
structure cable create
structure cable delete
structure cable group
structure cable hide
structure cable history
structure cable import
structure cable initialize
structure cable list
structure cable property
structure cable refine
structure cable select
structure hybrid import
structure hybrid list

geogrid commands

Commands that apply to geogrid elements.

structure geogrid apply
structure geogrid create
structure geogrid delete
structure geogrid group
structure geogrid hide
structure geogrid history
structure geogrid import
structure geogrid initialize
structure geogrid list
structure geogrid property
structure geogrid recover
structure geogrid refine
structure geogrid select

liner commands

Commands that apply to liner elements.

structure liner apply
structure liner create
structure liner delete
structure liner gap-factor
structure liner group
structure liner hide
structure liner history
structure liner import
structure liner initialize
structure liner list
structure liner property
structure liner recover
structure liner refine
structure liner select

pile commands

Commands that apply to pile elements.

structure pile apply
structure pile create
structure pile delete
structure pile group
structure pile hide
structure pile history
structure pile import
structure pile initialize
structure pile list
structure pile property
structure pile refine
structure pile select

shell commands

Commands that apply to shell elements.

structure shell apply
structure shell create
structure shell delete
structure shell group
structure shell hide
structure shell history
structure shell import
structure shell initialize
structure shell list
structure shell property
structure shell recover
structure shell refine
structure shell select

node commands

Commands that apply to structural nodes elements.

structure node apply
structure node create
structure node damping-local
structure node delete
structure node fix
structure node free
structure node group
structure node hide
structure node history
structure node initialize
structure node join
structure node list
structure node select
structure node system-local

Commands that apply to structural links elements.

structure link attach
structure link create
structure link delete
structure link group
structure link hide
structure link history
structure link list
structure link property
structure link select
structure link slide
structure link tolerance-contact
structure link tolerance-node
structure link tolerance-slide