Main Help → All Commands → FEA Mesh → Area
The Area
command defines a 2D area or a 1D interface which will automatically be divided into elements to define all or part of an FEA mesh. Between the Area
and its matching EndArea command, the area is defined by a collection of paths that enclose the area. A solid 2D area uses four paths; to define a 1D interface, use two paths:
Area (matid),(thick),<(angle)> (two or four paths defined in Path blocks or Paths commands) EndArea
where
(matid)
is the material ID for a previously defined material to use for the elements. Solid areas must use normal materials; interface areas can only use interface materials. When the mesh will be defined using image and shape commands, set (matid)
for any region to be filled by them to be "_NONE_".(thick)
is the thickness of all the elements in length units for 2D plane stress or plain strain analyses. It is ignored for axisymmetric analyses, but is still required.(angle)
is an optional material angle for all the elements (in degrees). It can be entered as a number or as a user-defined function. A function is evaluated at the midpoint of an element.The Path and Paths commands within the Area
block define a series of paths that must circumnavigate the area in the counter clockwise direction. The paths must be connected and define a closed area. The area will be meshed into elements of the type defined in the most recent Element command. Solid areas must use solid elements. Interfaces must use interface elements.
Solid areas must be defined by four paths. Furthermore, if n1, n2, n3, and n4 are the number of intervals along the four paths, they must satisfy either n1+n2=n3+n4 or n1+n4=n2+n3.
Areas for interface elements must be defined by two paths. The two paths must be separate paths, but have identical properties created with duplicate keypoints and have each been previously used in exactly one solid area command. For more details, see the OSUPDocs wiki.