Element Properties

LS-DYNA > Building A Model > Element Properties

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Element Properties

The Element Properties form appears when the Properties toggle, located on the Patran main form, is chosen.There are several option menus available when creating element properties. The selections made on the Element Properties menu will determine which element property form appears, and ultimately, which LS-DYNA element will be created.

The following pages give an introduction to the Element Properties form, and details of all the element property definitions supported by the Patran LS-DYNA Preference.

Element Properties Form

This form appears when Properties is selected on the main menu. There are four option menus on this form, each will determine which LS-DYNA element type will be created and which property forms will appear. The individual property forms are documented later in this section. For a full description of this form, see Element Properties Forms (p. 61) in the Patran Reference Manual.

The following table outlines the option menus when Analysis Type is set to Structural.


Object	Type	Option 1	Option 2
0D	• Mass
	• Grounded Spring	Linear Non-Linear Elastoplastic General Non-Linear Viscoelastic Inelastic
	• Grounded Damper	Linear Non-Linear
1D	• Beam	General Section Dimensioned Section
	• Rod
	• Spring	Linear	Scalar Follower
		Non-linear	Scalar Follower
		Elastoplastic	Scalar Follower
		General Non-Linear	Scalar Follower
		Viscoelastic	Scalar Follower
		Inelastic	Scalar Follower
	• Damper	Linear	Scalar Follower
		Non-Linear	Scalar Follower
		Side Impact
	• Discrete beam	Linear Non-Linear Non-Linear Plastic
	• Weld	Spot	Standard General
	•	Fillet
	•	Butt
	• Integrated Beam	Rectangular	Hughes Liu Belytschko Schwer
	• Integrated Beam	Tubular	Hughes Liu Belytschko Schwer
	• Part Inertia 1D	General Section Dimensioned Beam
2D	• Shell	Homogeneous	Hughes Liu Belytschko Tsay BCIZ Tri Shell Co Tri S/R Hughes Liu S/R Co-rotational Belytschko Levialthan Bely Wong Chiang Fast Hughes Liu
		Laminate	Hughes Liu S/R Hughes Liu Fast Hughes Liu Default
	• Membrane	Bely T Membrane Fully Integrated
	• Part Inertia 2D
3D	• Solid	Constant Stress S/R 8 Node Quadratic 8 Node S/R Tetrahedron
	• Thick Shell	1 Point 2 x 2 point
	• Part Inertia 3D

Mass

This subordinate form appears when the Input Properties button is selected on the Element Properties form when the following options are chosen.


Action	Dimension	Type	Topologies
Create	0D	Mass	Point

Use this form to create an *ELEMENT_MASS entry. This defines a lumped mass element of the structural model.

Grounded Spring

This subordinate form appears when the Input Properties button is selected on the Element Properties form when the following options are chosen.


Action	Dimension	Type	Option(s)	Topologies
Create	0D	Grounded Spring	Linear, Non-Linear, Elastoplastic, General Non-Linear, Viscoelastic, Inelastic	Point/1

Use this form to create a *ELEMENT_DISCRETE entry and one of the *MAT_SPRING_type and *SECTION_DISCRETE data entries. This defines a scalar spring element of the structural model. Only one node is used in this method. The other node is defined to be grounded. The data on this form will vary upon the spring type.

Grounded Damper

This subordinate form appears when the Input Properties button is selected on the Element Properties form when the following options are chosen.


Action	Dimension	Type	Option(s)	Topologies
Create	0D	Grounded Damper	Linear/Non-Linear	Point/1

Use this form to create an *ELEMENT_DISCRETE entry and one of the *MAT_DAMPER_type and *SECTION_DISCRETE data entries. This defines a scalar damper element of the structural model. Only one node is used in this method. The other node is defined to be grounded.The data on this form will vary upon the damper type.

Beam (General Section)

This subordinate form appears when the Input Properties button is selected on the Element Properties form when the following options are chosen.


Action	Dimension	Type	Option(s)	Option 2	Topologies
Create	1D	Beam	General Section		Bar/2

Use this form to create an *ELEMENT_BEAM entry together with its associated *SECTION_BEAM and *INTEGRATION_BEAM data entry. This defines a simple beam element of the structural model.

This is a list of Input Properties, available for creating a resultant beam that were not shown on the previous page. Use the menu scroll bar on the input properties form to view these properties.


Property Name	Description
Axial Damping	Defines the axial damping factor. This property is optional.
Mass Damping	Defines the mass damping factor. This property is optional.
Stiffness Damping	Defines the stiffness damping factor. This property is optional.
Bending Damping	Defines the bending damping factor. This property is optional.

Beam (Dimensioned Section - Hughes-Liu)

This subordinate form appears when the Input Properties button is selected on the Element Properties form when the following options are chosen.


Action	Dimension	Type	Option(s)	Option 2	Topologies
Create	1D	Beam	Dimensioned Section	Hughes -Liu	Bar/2

Use this form to create an *ELEMENT_BEAM entry together with its associated *SECTION_BEAM and *INTEGRATION_BEAM data entry. This defines a simple beam element of the structural model.

This is a list of Input Properties, available for creating a resultant beam that were not shown on the previous page. Use the menu scroll bar on the input properties form to view these properties.


Property Name	Description
Mass Damping	Defines the mass damping factor. This property is optional.
Stiffness Damping	Defines the stiffness damping factor. This property is optional.

Beam (Dimensioned Section - Belytschko-Schwer)

This subordinate form appears when the Input Properties button is selected on the Element Properties form when the following options are chosen.


Action	Dimension	Type	Option(s)	Option 2	Topologies
Create	1D	Beam	Dimensioned Section	Belytschko Schwer	Bar/2

Use this form to create an *ELEMENT_BEAM entry together with its associated *SECTION_BEAM and *INTEGRATION_BEAM data entry. This defines a simple beam element of the structural model.

This is a list of Input Properties, available for creating a resultant beam that were not shown on the previous page. Use the menu scroll bar on the input properties form to view these properties.


Property Name	Description
Axial Damping	Defines the axial damping factor. This property is optional.
Mass Damping	Defines the mass damping factor. This property is optional.
Stiffness Damping	Defines the stiffness damping factor. This property is optional.
Bending Damping	Defines the bending damping factor. This property is optional.

Rod

This subordinate form appears when the Input Properties button is selected on the Element Properties form when the following options are chosen.


Action	Dimension	Type	Option(s)	Topologies
Create	1D	Rod		Bar/2

Use this form to create *ELEMENT_BEAM and *SECTION_BEAM data entries. This defines a tension-compression-torsion element of the structural model.

Scalar Spring

This subordinate form appears when the Input Properties button is selected on the Element Properties form when the following options are chosen.


Action	Dimension	Type	Option 1	Option 2	Topologies
Create	1D	Spring	Linear, Non-Linear, Elastopastic, General Non-Linear, Viscoelastic, Inelastic	Scalar,	Bar/2

Use this form to create an *ELEMENT_DISCRETE entry and one of the *MAT_SPRING_type and *SECTION_DISCRETE data entries. This defines a scalar spring element of the structural model. The data on this form will vary upon the spring type. Additional parameters are available to define the dynamic values based on static data.

Scalar Damper

This subordinate form appears when the Input Properties button is selected on the Element Properties form when the following options are chosen.


Action	Dimension	Type	Option 1	Option 2	Topologies
Create	1D	Damper	Linear, Non-Linear	Scalar	Bar/2

Use this form to create an *ELEMENT_DISCRETE entry and one of the *MAT_DAMPER_type and *SECTION_DISCRETE data entries. This defines a scalar damper element of the structural model. The data on this form will vary upon the damper type.

Follower Damper

This subordinate form appears when the Input Properties button is selected on the Element Properties form when the following options are chosen.


Action	Dimension	Type	Option 1	Option 2	Topologies
Create	1D	Damper	Linear, Non-Linear	Follower	Bar/2

Use this form to create an *ELEMENT_DISCRETE entry and one of the *MAT_DAMPER_type and *SECTION_DISCRETE data entries. This defines a follower damper element of the structural model. The data on this form will vary upon the damper type.

Side Impact Damper

This subordinate form appears when the Input Properties button is selected on the Element Properties form when the following options are chosen.


Action	Dimension	Type	Option	Topologies
Create	1D	Damper	Side Impact	Bar/2

Use this form to create an *ELEMENT_BEAM entry and *MAT_SID_DAMPER_DISCRETE_BEAM and *SECTION_BEAM data entries. This defines a side impact damper element of the structural model. Additional properties required to fully define the damper behavior are input by scrolling down the form.

Discrete Beam

This subordinate form appears when the Input Properties button is selected on the Element Properties form when the following options are chosen.


Action	Dimension	Type	Option(s)	Topologies
Create	1D	Discrete Beam	Linear, Non-Linear, Non-Linear Plastic	Bar/2

Use this form to create an *ELEMENT_BEAM entry together with its associated *MAT_type_DISCRETE_BEAM and *SECTION_BEAM data entries. This defines a simple beam element of the structural model. The data on this form will vary upon the beam type.

Spot Weld

This subordinate form appears when the Input Properties button is selected on the Element Properties form when the following options are chosen.


Action	Dimension	Type	Option 1	Option 2	Topologies
Create	1D	Weld	Spot	Standard/General	Bar/2

Use this form to create a *CONSTRAINED_SPOTWELD or *CONSTRAINED_GENERALIZED_WELD_SPOT entry. This defines a spot weld connecting two nodes of the model. The data on this form will vary upon the weld type.

Fillet Weld

This subordinate form appears when the Input Properties button is selected on the Element Properties form when the following options are chosen.


Action	Dimension	Type	Option(s)	Topologies
Create	1D	Weld	Fillet	Bar/2

Use this form to create a *CONSTRAINED_GENERALIZED_WELD_FILLET entry. This defines a fillet weld between two parts of the model.

This is a list of Input Properties available for creating a Fillet Weld that were not shown on the previous page. Use the scroll bar on the Input properties form to view these properties.


Property Name	Description
Width of Flange, w	Define width of flange. This property is required.
Width of Weld, a	Define width of fillet weld. This property is required.
Weld Angle, Alpha	Define the weld angel, Alpha. This property is required.

Butt Weld

This subordinate form appears when the Input Properties button is selected on the Element Properties form when the following options are chosen.


Action	Dimension	Type	Option(s)	Topologies
Create	1D	Weld	Butt	Bar/2

Use this form to create a *CONSTRAINED_GENERALIZED_WELD_BUTT entry. This defines a butt weld between two parts of the model.

Integrated Beam

This subordinate form appears when the Input Properties button is selected on the Element Properties form when the following options are chosen.


Action	Dimension	Type	Option 1	Option 2	Topologies
Create	1D	Integrated Beam	Rectangular, Tubular	Belytschko Schwer, Hughes -Liu	Bar/2

Use this form to create an *ELEMENT_BEAM together with its associated *SECTION_BEAM and *INTEGRATION_BEAM data entries. This defines a simple beam element of the structural model. The data entry will vary upon the formulation option.

Part Inertia 1D

This subordinate form appears when the Input Properties button is selected on the Element Properties form when the following options are chosen.


Action	Dimension	Type	Option 1	Option 2	Topologies
Create	1D	Part Inertia 1D			Bar/2

Shell

This subordinate form appears when the Input Properties button is selected on the Element Properties form when the following options are chosen.


Action	Dimension	Type	Option	Formulation	Topologies
Create	2D	Shell	Homogeneous	Hughes Liu, Belytschko-Tsay, BCIZ Tri Shell, Co-Tri, S/R Hughes Lui, S/R Co_rotational, Belytschko Levialthan, Bely Wong Chiang, Fast Hughes Liu.	Tri/3, Quad/4
			Laminate	Hughes Liu, S/R Hughes Liu, Fast Hughes Liu, Default.

Use this form to create an *ELEMENT_SHELL_OPTION entry together with the associated *SECTION_SHELL entry. The data varies upon the type of element formulation.

Membrane

This subordinate form appears when the Input Properties button is selected on the Element Properties form when the following options are chosen.


Action	Dimension	Type	Option(s)	Topologies
Create	2D	Membrane	Bely T Membrane, Fully Integrated	Tria/3, Quad/4

Use this form to create an *ELEMENT_SHELL_OPTION entry together with the associated *SECTION_SHELL entry.

Part Inertia 2D

This subordinate form appears when the Input Properties button is selected on the Element Properties form when the following options are chosen.


Action	Dimension	Type	Option 1	Option 2	Topologies
Create	2D	Part Inertia 2D			Bar/2

Solid

This subordinate form appears when the Input Properties button is selected on the Element Properties form when the following options are chosen.


Action	Dimension	Type	Option 1	Topologies
Create	3D	Solid	Constant Stress, S/R 8 Node, Quadratic 8 Node, S/R Tetrahedron	Hex/8

Use this form to create an *ELEMENT_SOLID entry together with the associated *SECTION_SOLID entry.

Thick Shell

This subordinate form appears when the Input Properties button is selected on the Element Properties form when the following options are chosen.


Action	Dimension	Type	Option 1	Topologies
Create	3D	Thick Shell	1 Point 2x2 Point	Hex/8

Use this form to create an *ELEMENT_TSHELL entry together with the associated *SECTION_TSHELL entry.


Note:	The correct node numbering is essential for correct use. To ensure proper orientation, extreme care must be used in defining the connectivity. (See the LS-DYNA User’s Manual for further details.)

Part Inertia 3D

This subordinate form appears when the Input Properties button is selected on the Element Properties form when the following options are chosen.


Action	Dimension	Type	Option 1	Option 2	Topologies
Create	3D	Part Inertia 3D			Bar/2