Main Help → All Commands → FEA Mesh → Path
The Path
command is used in FEA analysis to define paths that are connected to mesh areas. It has two forms. The first form is to define a new path:
Path (id),(intervals),<(ratio)> Keypoint "start",0,5 Keypoint "middle",5,10 Keypoint "end" EndPath
where
(id)
is the name or id
to give to the new path. The (id)
must be unique among all other paths.(intervals)
is the number of intervals along the path. When the path is used to mesh an area, it is the number of elements along that path.(ratio)
defines the ratio of the first element size to the last element size and can be used to define unequal element sizes. Alternatively, (ratio)
can be negative to specify the absolute size of the first element (in length units) to be |(ratio)|
. If not specified, the default value is 1 which gives equally sized elements.
Within the Path
block, there are a series of Keypoint commands that define new keypoints (e.g. key point "start") or refer to previously define key points (e.g. key point "end" without specified coordinates). The keypoints are connected to define the path. Consecutive defined keypoints can be selected with multiple Keypoint commands or with single Keypoints commands.
A path can be used in more than one area. 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 Path
command is to refer to a previous path:
Paths (id1),<(id2)>,...
where there is no matching EndPath command and (id1)
is the name or id
of a previously defined path. To include consecutive defined paths in an area, you have extra ids in a single Paths command.
Path
command to define a path can appear by itself or within an Area command block. A Path
command that refers to an existing path is only allowed within a Area command block.@path.ID.prop
where "ID" is the defined path name or id
and the possible properties for prop
are:
Path
command is only allowed for FEA analyses.