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*Line Locations

Purpose

To define named locations along a line, allowing you to request that nodes be positioned exactly at specific lengths along a line.

Theory

Refer to Line Mesh Generation for further information on this feature.

Keyword Format

A block of lines defining locations along a line. The block begins with a line defining the line name. This is followed by one or more lines defining named locations in terms of distance along the line. The entire block of lines may be repeated as often as necessary to define all the required locations along lines in the model.

Line defining the line name:

LINE=Line Name

Line defining named locations in terms of distance along the line. Positive values denote forward measurement from the start of the line, while negative values denote backward measurement from the end of the line. This line may be repeated as often as necessary to define all the required locations along the line:

LABEL=Node Label, Distance

Any Line Name which is referenced must be defined under *LINES.

Table Input

Notes

(a)Any Line Name you reference must be defined in the Lines table

(b)It is important to associate meaningful names with line locations, as these names will be used by the program to automatically create relevant node labels for you, which you can subsequently reference. For example, if you wish to apply a point load at a certain distance along a line, or to connect another component (e.g. another line) to a line at a specific location, you would typically position a node on the line at the required location.

(c)As well as defining node labels, the program will automatically create a pair of element labels on the elements at either side of the location. These element labels will be given the same name as the node label, but with the suffixes “_Before” and “_After” appended. In particular, this greatly simplifies the post-processing of element based results at the location.