Main Help → All Commands → FEA Mesh → Keypoint
The Keypoint
command is used in FEA analysis to define key points that are used to define paths that and then used to mesh areas. It has two forms. The first form is to define a key point:
Keypoint (id),(x),(y),<(style)>
where
(id)
is the name or id
to give to the new keypoint. The id
must be unique among all other key points.(x,y)
gives the coordinates of the key point (or R and Z coordinates for axisymmetric analyses) in length units.(style)
can be "polar" to indicate the coordinates are given in polar coordinates where r = (x) and θ = (y) (in degrees). The keypoint is then at:
x = (xo) + r cos θ and
y = (yo)
+ r sin θ
where (xo,yo) is the origin. By default, the origin is (0,0), but it can be changed with the Origin command.Key points are often used in more than one path. The first time it is used it is defined as above. For all subsequent uses, however, it is reused by giving just the id
. Thus, the second form of the Keypoint
command is to refer to a previous key point:
Keypoints (id1),<(id2)>,...
where (id1)
,<(id2)>, etc., are the id
s of previously defined key points. The command can have any number of existing key points relevant to the current path. The Keypoints form of the this command is only allowed within a Path command block. The Keypoint
definition form can be used by itself or within the first Path command block that needs it.
@key.ID.x
or @key.ID.y
. Here "ID" is the defined keypoint name or id
and you can read its x or y coordinate. For example:
#xloc = @key.Left.x + 10To find the x coordinate 10 length units to the right of key point with
id
"Left"Keypoint
command is only allowed for FEA analyses.