8.20.4 ElemSection class: Properties related to the section of an element.

The ElemSection class has this constructor:

class ElemSection( section=None,material=None,orientation=None,behavior=None)
Create a new element section property. Empty by default.

An element section property can hold the following sub-properties: - section: the section properties of the element. This can be a dict or a string. The required data in this dict depend on the sectiontype. Currently the following keys are used by fe_abq.py: - sectiontype: the type of section: one of following: 'solid': a solid 2D or 3D section, 'circ' : a plain circular section, 'rect' : a plain rectangular section, 'pipe' : a hollow circular section, 'box' : a hollow rectangular section, 'I' : an I-beam, 'general' : anything else (automatically set if not specified). !! Currently only 'solid' and 'general' are allowed. - the cross section characteristics : cross_section, moment_inertia_11, moment_inertia_12, moment_inertia_22, torsional_rigidity - for sectiontype 'circ': radius - material: the element material. This can be a dict or a string. Currently known keys to fe_abq.py are: young_modulus, shear_modulus, density, poisson_ratio - 'orientation' is a list of 3 direction cosines of the first beam section axis. - behavior: the behavior of the connector

ElemSection objects have the following methods:

addSection( section)
Create or replace the section properties of the element.

If 'section' is a dict, it will be added to 'self.secDB'. If 'section' is a string, this string will be used as a key to search in 'self.secDB'.

computeSection( section)
Compute the section characteristics of specific sections.

addMaterial( material)
Create or replace the material properties of the element.

If the argument is a dict, it will be added to 'self.matDB'. If the argument is a string, this string will be used as a key to search in 'self.matDB'.