Shapes Defined by Elements

Elements that represent the shape of an FEA ply.

The shape (area) of an FEA ply is defined by selecting elements that most closely represent the complex shape of a physical ply. Typically, if an element's centroid exists within the bounds of the physical ply shape, that element is considered part of the FEA ply shape. The corresponding FEA ply shape is defined by the gray shaded elements of the associated FEA mesh.

In the figure below, an elliptical physical ply shape is defined by the brown line.


Figure 1.