Cross-section

This block stores cross-section definitions. The cs block is a library storing a list of base designs of cross-sections that will be used for the global structure. Note that both structure and cs blocks share some common input entries. These entries have mostly the same input syntax and meanings. The basic method defining a cross-section is as follows:

1. Create a base design of the cross-sections

2. Identify designable parameters

3. Assign default values to those parameters

The overall layout is shown in Listing 5.

Listing 5 Layout of the cs input block

cs:
  - name: ""
    parameter:
      ...
    design:
      ...
    model:
      ...
  - name: ""
    ...

Two key entries are the design, which specifies the base design, and parameter, which specifies the designable parameters.

Note

For more information on the parameterization of beam structures and cross-sections, please check the Section Parameterization of Composite Slender Structures.

Parameter specifications (parameter)

In this section, design parameters of a cs are given in a list of pairs of name and value. The basic syntax is shown in Listing 6.

Listing 6 Parameter list

cs:
  - name: "cs1"
    parameter:
      param_3: value_3
      param_4: value_4
      ...

Parameter list can be used to specify a constant value for the whole structure. These parameters can also be varied by an optimization method. This is done by directly using the parameter name as the design variable name in the Design Study block.