Section Properties

Structural section properties

1D Section Property (For curve elements)

gg[Program]CreateSectionProp

A section property can be applied to a line/curve member to create a structural element with a structural analysis model. Generally these are created by a Profile, a Name, a Material, and a list of parameters.

Profiles

It is important to understand the difference between a profile and a property/section property.

A profile is the geometric representation of a beam or frame element section property. A profile is not a section property as it does not accompany structural attributes such as material grade or other structural attributes associated with structural analysis.

For most structural analysis plug-ins the profiles are generated from the BullAnt plug-in and inputted into each plug-ins specific section property component.

The profile input can also take a string definition, if you are familiar with the section property name in the intended program than you can define this profile as a string.

Name

The section property name is generally set as the name of the section Profile, however any name can be inputted in here to represent the name of the section property.

Material

Defines the material to be used for the section property.

Section Property Parameters

Section property parameters define a set of parameters which a program allows to be imported with a section property. They can also include modification settings and other user attributes.

In some programs the Section Property parameters can also set what type of curve element you are creating for example a tension/compression only element.

Working with Section Properties

Once a section property is created within the Grasshopper environment the Section Property is assigned an ID. A property can be accessed via its ID when apply a property to a curve element. See the element page for applying section properties for more information.

Please see the example files on section properties and profiles for more information.

Custom Section Property

Custom Profile Definitions

Some programs such as GSA allow you to create profiles from different means, such as a list of input lines or poly lines. Where this is possible through a specific program additional components have been added.

Explicit Section Property

An explicit section property can be set to curve elements by specifying section property mechanical values manually to be applied within the analysis model. There will be no visual representation of the section property when specifying in this manor.

2D Section Property (For area elements)

gg###Create 2d Finite Element Prop

A finite element property is a 2D properties that can be applied to Area or Panel elements and finite element meshes. To create a 2D property you need to define the Name, material, thickness and special parameters associated with the specific program.