Use a Layered Material () data set, found under the More Data Sets submenu, to create a volume/domain (3D) data set corresponding to a layered shell physics defined using a surface/boundary (2D) geometry and a built-in extra dimension (1D) geometry. This data set is used to plot or evaluate the quantities on a domain level or its lower dimensions.

Select a Data set that corresponds to a layered shell physics to create a volume/domain data set. By default, a Layered Material data set is active on all the boundaries. Right-click the data set and select Add Selection in order to restrict the selection and plot or evaluate quantities only on specified selection.

Select an Evaluate in: Mesh nodes (the default), Interfaces, or Layer midplanes.

In case Mesh nodes is selected, a domain data set is created and a surface plot using this data set plots on the exterior boundaries of the layered shell domain. In order to have better visualization inside a layered shell, select the Separate levels check box. This setting creates slices on the mesh nodes in the through-thickness direction. Increase a Refinement (default: 1) to have more evaluation points in the through-thickness direction.

In case Interfaces or Layer midplanes is selected, slices are created in the domain either at the interface between the two successive layers or in the middle of each layer, respectively.

Specify Scale (default: 1) to increase the thickness of a layered shell keeping the other geometric dimensions unchanged. This is particularly useful to analyze the through-thickness behavior in thin layered shells.