T.3 Creating the Plates - Method 4

To create the plates using the Mesh Generation facility, use the following steps.

This method uses the same drawing grid from Method 1. Refer to " T.3 Setup the Grid."

The STAAD.Pro GUI contains a facility for generating a mesh of elements from a boundary (or superelement) defined by a set of corner nodes. The boundary must form a closed surface and must lie within a plane, though that plane can be inclined to any of the global planes.

You define the boundary by selecting the corner nodes. If these nodes do not exist, they must be created before they can be selected.

Create the nodes:
1. On the Snap Node/Plate dialog, click Snap Node/Plate.
2. Click at the four corners of the grid at (0, 0, 0), (6, 0, 0), (6, 0, 4), and (0, 0, 4).
  Tip: If the node points are not visible, press <SHIFT+K>.
In the Snap Node/Plate dialog, click Close.
Use the Plates Cursor and select this plate.
To start a quadrilateral mesh of the existing plate element:
1. On the Plate Tools dialog, select the Generate Plate Mesh tool in the Model group.
  
  The Chose Meshing Type dialog opens.
2. Select the Quadrilateral Meshing option.
3. Click OK
The Select Meshing Parameters dialog opens.
Complete the meshing parameters:
1. Type 3 and the Divisions along AB and CD sides and 2 for the Divisions along BC and DA sides.
2. Click Apply.
The surface is meshed.
Re-number the plate elements:
1. On the Plate Tools ribbon tab, select the Renumber Plates tool in the Model group.
  
  A warning message opens.
2. Click Yes. The Renumber dialog opens.
3. Double-click Z Coordinate in the Available Sort Criteria list.
4. Double-click X Coordinate in the Available Sort Criteria list. The Z coordinate entry should appear above the X coordinate entry in the Selected Sort Criteria list.
5. Click Accept.
The six plates are re-numbered as shown below.

As an alternative in step 1, you can press and hold <Ctrl> to create only disconnected nodes. Then, when you can use the Generate Mesh > Generate Plate Mesh tool in the Plate group on the Geometry ribbon tab to generate the plates from those nodes, rather than re-meshing an existing plate. You then use the plate bound selection cursor to select these corner nodes to define a meshed boundary.

Tip: Pressing the <Ctrl> key while clicking on grid points creates new nodes without connecting those nodes with beams or plates. If the <Ctrl> key is not kept pressed, the nodes become connected.