Example 1
For the QPPL element, the data
(30)(11,1)(71,1)(72,1)(12,1)
will generate the ELEMENTS as follows:
| node 1 | node 2 | node 3 | node 4 | ||
| Element 1 | i=1 | 11+0(1+0) = 11 | 71+0(1+0) = 71 | 72+0(1+0) = 72 | 12+0(1+0) = 12 |
| Element 2 | i=2 | 11+1(1+0) = 12 | 71+1(1+0) = 72 | 72+1(1+0) = 73 | 12+1(1+0) = 13 |
| Element 3 | i=3 | 11+2(1+0) = 13 | 71+2(1+0) = 73 | 72+2(1+0) = 74 | 12+2(1+0) = 14 |
etc.
i.e. 30 elements are generated each with 4 node numbers where
Element 1 nodes are 11,71,72,12
Element 2 nodes are 12,72,73,13
Element 3 nodes are 13,73,74,14
etc.
Note: N3 is zero in all cases, which is very common.
Example 2
For the TUBE element, the data
(10)(11,3)(71,3)(2)(1)
will generate the elements as follows:
| node 1 | node 2 | material group | geometry group | ||
| Element 1 | i=1 | 11+0(3+0) = 11 | 71+0(3+0) = 71 | 2+0(0+0) = 2 | 1+0(0+0) = 1 |
| Element 2 | i=2 | 11+1(3+0) = 14 | 71+1(3+0) = 74 | 2+1(0+0) = 2 | 1+1(0+0) = 1 |
| Element 3 | i=3 | 11+2(3+0) = 17 | 71+2(3+0) = 77 | 2+1(0+0) = 2 | 1+2(0+0) = 1 |
etc.
i.e. 10 elements are generated
Element 1: nodes are 11,71; Material Group = 2; Geometry Group = 1
Element 2: nodes are 14,74; Material Group = 2; Geometry Group = 1
Element 3: nodes are 17,77; Material Group = 2 ; Geometry Group = 1
etc.
Note: N2 (as well as N3) is zero for the material/geometric group number increments, which is very common. This means that all 10 elements will have the same material and geometric properties.
Example 3
For the DISC element, the data
(1)(11)(71)(1)
will generate one DISC element as indicated by the number in the first pair of brackets. The centroid position of the disc is defined by the first node number (node 11) and the normal direction of the disc is decided by the vector from the first node (11) to the second node (71). It should be noted that whether the normal vector defined as from node 11 to 71 or from node 71 to 11 has no effect on the results. The last number in the DISC data record is the geometry property group number for this DISC which is to be defined in Geometric Properties - GEOM (Data Category 4) (DISC has no material properties).