🧰The Rhino and Grasshopper files used in this example can be downloaded below: orthotropic_transformations.zip

This example demonstrates a workflow for correctly orienting fiber directions based on arbitrary geometries with grasshopper transformation matrices. Following this, a basic static simulation utilizes this newly aligned orthotropic material.

• The key steps involved in setting up the simulation are explained here.
• New users are advised to check out the getting started page to understand the basics of using the plugin.

• An initial solid box is centered at the origin and rotations are applied in each world plane (XY, YZ, ZX) to yield an arbitrarily oriented surface
• The surfaces of interest along with their normal are extracted (normal to align our Z-axis and longitudinal direction to align our fiber direction or X-axis)
• Note, the oriented box geometry and surfaces should be baked for future use in simulation.

Now, for a composite material, add an Orthotropic Material Block from the Comp&Mat menu in Intact.Simulation. Since composite materials also require material orientation, we will need a transformation input (X). For this example, we align Material X to Global X, Material Y to Global Y, and so on.

• Create a “Rotate 3D” block (b) (again by double-clicking on the canvas)
• Attach to the rotate 3D block a “Unit Z” object to the Axis (X) and a slider (a) to Angle (A) in order to set the rotation angle about the specified axis (note, can attach slider (a) to a “Radians” object if desired)
• Connect the rotation output of this block to the input for the “Orthotropic Material” block (c)

This will align the stronger “E1/Ex” material properties to the rotated x-axis and the other properties to the y and z axes respectively

Using the geometry setup, orthotropic material setup, and a few other inputs we can set up all the necessary components (a), restraint (b), and load (c) blocks.

• Attach the corresponding geometries to the corresponding component, restraint, or load block.
• Attach the orthotropic material to the component block
• Set the axis for the Torque Load block by clicking “Set one Line” and choosing the two endpoints of the line that goes through the centroid of the largest hole on the motor mount.
• Attach a slider set to -20 for the “Torque” magnitude in the torque load block

• Create a solver settings block as shown in (a)
  • Set the target resolution (Res) to 150K by attaching a number slider with a value of 150000
  • Use the default direct solver type (St)
  • Use the default basis order (B) of 1 for linear elements (basis order = 2 for quadratic elements)
• Create a Stress Solver object as shown in (b)
  • Connect the solver settings (SS)
  • Connect the oriented plate component (C)
  • Connect the plate restraint surface (R)
  • Connect the plate pressure load (L)
• Hit solve to compute the solution
  • Create a visualization block (d) and connect the solver output to it
  • Optionally, users can connect the visualization settings block (c) for customizing the views
  • Right-click on the visualize block and choose the simulation output for display (e.g., total displacement)
  • Again optionally, users can add a deflection scale input to scale the visualized displacement as desired

• To better visualize you can hide the geometry in Rhino or set the display to wireframe. This will prevent the object from interfering with the visualization of the simulation.

The displacement distribution resulting from this static simulation example is displayed below. The maximum displacement is near .5 mm. To load the simulation results later, create a simulation reader block, right-click, select the simulation, and connect it to a visualize block.