Layered Material
Use a Layered Material () dataset, found under the More Datasets submenu, to create a volume or domain (3D) dataset corresponding to a layered shell physics defined using a surface or boundary (2D) geometry and a built-in extra dimension (1D) geometry. This dataset is used to plot or evaluate the quantities on a domain level or its lower dimensions.
The Layered Material dataset requires the AC/DC Module, Composite Materials Module, Heat Transfer Module, Porous Media Flow Module, or Structural Mechanics Module. See the documentation for those products for more information about modeling using layered materials.
Data
Select a Dataset that corresponds to a layered shell physics to create a volume or domain dataset. By default, a Layered Material dataset is active on all boundaries. Right-click the dataset and select Add Selection in order to restrict the selection and plot or evaluate quantities only on specified selection.
Layers
Select an Evaluate in: Mesh nodes (the default), Interfaces, or Layer midplanes.
In case Mesh nodes is selected, a domain dataset is created and a surface plot using this dataset 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 the 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.
Under Layer selection, choose the layers or interfaces to include in the dataset. Select the User all layers check box if desired. If that check box is not selected and model contains several shells, then you can specify what shell to make layer or interface selections for from the Layered material list. Then, in case Mesh nodes or Layer midplanes are selected, choose the layers to include in the dataset. In case Interfaces is selected, then under Interface selection, choose the layer interfaces to include in the dataset. In both cases, all layers or layer interfaces are selected by default.
In all cases, use the Save Layers to File (), Load Layers to File (), Set All (), Clear All (), Copy Selection (), and Paste Selection () buttons as desired for making the desired selection of layers or layer interfaces.