Beam Element

Seam element is used for modelling of steel structures.

Examples of Use

Spray system FRP pipe in power plant FGD tower. The pipe be supported by beam structure, the structure model will make the analysis result show a real vertical deflection

Compressor blow down pipe, the silencer be supported by structure, the structure lateral deformation will reduce the silencer nozzle load and pipe anchor load

Skid model for Oil & gas plant

General Properties

 

Property

Description

Name

Text field. Element can be sorted by name and selected in the  project tree

Projections\sphere\cylinder1

Projections - element dimensions are input as projections on global coordinate axes DX, DY, DZ;
 sphere - element dimensions are input as element length L and three angles between the element axis and the global coordinate axes jX, jY, jZ;
cylinder - element dimensions are input as a projection on the XY plane, projections on the Z axis and two angles between the projection on the XY plane and X and Y axes

Beam Type

Cross section profile

Section Dimensions

Height, Width, tf, tw - see drawing, by pressing button

Section Area:

Xm - Cross Section Area, Ym - Effective Shear Area for Ym (horizontal) axis, Zm - Effective Shear Area for Zm (vertical) axis

Moment of Inertia: Xm - Torsion Moment of Inertia, Ym - Moment of Inertia around Ym (horizontal) axis, Zm - Moment of Inertia around Zm (vertical) axis

For simple profiles like Solid rectangular bar, Solid round bar and Circular tube (pipe) all cross section properties are calculated automatically. For other profiles properties should be taken from the beam section database. Some beam profile standards doesn't contain values of torsion moment of inertia and effective shear area. In this case database contain zero value and software automatically calculates values using simplified analytical equations

Angle of section main axis

Angle between Zm local axis and Z global axis. 0° - vertical cross section, 90 - horizontal cross section

Material

Material from materials database. Material is used to calculate the thermal expansion of beam element

Manufacturing technology

This property is used to select the material database section

Operation temperature, Тop

Temperature in operating mode. Temperature is used to calculate the thermal expansion of beam element. More...

Uniform beam weight

Uniform beam element weight

Menu and Toolbar Access

To insert a flange, select the desired node and use the menu option: Insert > Beam Element

To view properties of an existing element: