Alpaca4d

Appearance

Plate Fiber Section ​

The section a shell element uses: a thickness plus an nD material.

🔧 Grasshopper component ​

Plate Fiber Section (Alpaca4d) — Alpaca4d ▸ 01_Section, nickname PFS

PFS component
Inputs
SecNameSectionNameText(empty)Label for the section.
ThicknessNumber0.15Shell thickness, in m.
MaterialMaterialAn nD material.
A uniaxial material will not be accepted.
ColourColour(empty)The colour the section is drawn in when Model View colours the elements by section.
Left empty, Model View gives each section a colour of its own. Display only: the analysis never reads it.
Outputs
SectionSectionShell section, for an ASD Shell.

📈 When to use it ​

Use it when

  • You are building any shell element. This is the only section that ASD Shell accepts.

Do not use it when

  • The element is a beam → use one of the beam sections.
  • The element is a solid → bricks and tetrahedra take a material directly, with no section.

🔗 Relation to OpenSees
tcl
section PlateFiber $secTag $matTag $thickness