Carry out a single cross-sectional analysis

This first tutorial will give the instructions to the basic functionalities of the tool.

Suppose that we want to carry out a single cross-sectional analysis. The task is to carry out a quick cross-sectional analysis of a specific cross-sectional design. Specifically, in this tutorial, we want to set values to the locations of spar webs and get the torsional and bending stiffness (\(GJ\), \(EI_{yy}\), \(EI_{zz}\)).

Run the example

To run the tutorial, start a command line prompt, change directory to this tutorial folder, and run the following command:

python run.py cs_design_analysis.yml 1

Result can be found in the file cs_design_analysis.out.

Files of this tutorial

Input

For this and all analysis of iVABS, there is one top-level yaml file as the main input and a Python script to trigger the analysis. All others are the supporting files.

Table 1 Tutorial input files

File	Description
cs_design_analysis.yml	Main input file
run.py	Python script running the analysis
airfoil_simple.xml.tmp	Cross-sectional design template
SC1095.dat	Airfoil data
material_database_us_ft.xml	Material database

This tutorial mainly focuses on the main input file. Tutorials on other files will be explained later.

Output

Table 2 Tutorial output files

File	Description
cs_design_analysis.out	Analysis result

Main input file specification (cs_design_analysis.yml)

Note

For more details on the syntax of the YAML format, please see A Brief Introduction to YAML.

Basic layout of the main input file

cs:
  # Define cross-sectional designs

analysis:
  # Define analysis steps

Define the cross-section

This block specifies the base design of the cross-section that will be analyzed.

cs:
  - name: "airfoil"
    parameter:
      a2p1: 0.82
      a2p3: 0.58
    design:
      dim: 2
      tool: "prevabs"
      base_file: "airfoil_simple.xml.tmp"
    model:
      md1:
        tool: "vabs"

cs

Root key of the list of cross-section base designs.

`` - name: “airfoil”``

Name of the cross-section.

`` parameter:``

Root key of the parameter specification.

Note

For more details on how to prepare the parameterized base design of a cross-section (airfoil_simple.xml.tmp), please see Parameterization of Composite Slender Structures.

Define the analysis

analysis:
  steps:
    - step: "cs analysis"
      type: "cs"
      analysis: "h"
      output:
        - value: ["gj", "eiyy", "eizz"]

Note

For the complete list of available keys to get beam properties, see Beam Properties.