Elements

Below is a list of Element features that can be found in this section.

Element Types	Keywords	Compatible Properties	Description
Beams and Trusses	/BEAM	/PROP/TYPE3 (BEAM) /PROP/TYPE18 (INT_BEAM)	With 3 nodes to defined the coordinate of beam element, which could carry axial loads, shear forces, bending and torsion moments.
Beams and Trusses	/TRUSS	/PROP/TYPE2 (TRUSS)	With 2 nodes to defined the coordinate of truss element, which could carry only axial loads.
Springs	/SPRING	/PROP/TYPE4 (SPRING) /PROP/TYPE8 (SPR_GENE) /PROP/TYPE12 (SPR_PUL) /PROP/TYPE13 (SPR_BEAM) /PROP/TYPE25 (SPR_AXI) /PROP/TYPE26 (SPR_TAB) /PROP/TYPE32 (SPR_PRE) /PROP/TYPE33 (KJOINT) /PROP/TYPE35 (STITCH) /PROP/TYPE36 (PREDIT) /PROP/TYPE44 (SPR_CRUS) /PROP/TYPE45 (KJOINT2) /PROP/TYPE46 (SPR_MUSCLE)	With at least 2 nodes to define coordinate of spring element. Depends on which spring property used, spring could be one DOF or six DOF and spring accounts for nonlinear stiffness, damping and different unloading. Deformation-based failure criteria is available.
Springs	/XELEM	/PROP/TYPE28 (NSTRAND)	With a group of nodes to define the coordinate of multi-standard spring element, which could be used for belt modelization by taking nodes upon the dummy.
Shells	/SHELL	/PROP/TYPE1 (SHELL) /PROP/TYPE9 (SH_ORTH) /PROP/TYPE10 (SH_COMP) /PROP/TYPE11 (SH_SANDW) /PROP/TYPE16 (SH_FABR) /PROP/TYPE17 (STACK) /PROP/TYPE19 (PLY) /PROP/TYPE51	With 4 nodes to define coordinate of shell element. Used to model the structure with one dimension is much smaller than the other two dimensions in geometry (like sheet metal, plate).
Shells	/SH3N	/PROP/TYPE1 (SHELL) /PROP/TYPE9 (SH_ORTH) /PROP/TYPE10 (SH_COMP) /PROP/TYPE11 (SH_SANDW) /PROP/TYPE16 (SH_FABR) /PROP/TYPE17 (STACK) /PROP/TYPE19 (PLY) /PROP/TYPE51	With 3 nodes to define coordinate of shell element. It is the same as a 4 nodes shell element, but is easier to fit the complete structure geometry.
Solids	/BRIC20	/PROP/TYPE14 (SOLID)	With 20 nodes to define coordinate of quadratic element.
	/BRICK	/PROP/TYPE6 (SOL_ORTH) /PROP/TYPE14 (SOLID) /PROP/TYPE20 (TSHELL) /PROP/TYPE21 (TSH_ORTH) /PROP/TYPE22 (TSH_COMP) /PROP/TYPE29, /PROP/TYPE30 or /PROP/TYPE31 /PROP/TYPE43 (CONNECT)	With 8 nodes to define coordinate of Hexahedral linear Solid Element and Thick Shell Element.
	/PENTA6	/PROP/TYPE20 (TSHELL) with Isolid=15	With 6 nodes to define coordinate of pentahedron element. It could be created with degenerated /BRICK element.
	/QUAD	/PROP/TYPE6 (SOL_ORTH) /PROP/TYPE14 (SOLID)	This is 2D solid element used for 2D analysis.
	/SHEL16	/PROP/TYPE20 (TSHELL) /PROP/TYPE21 (TSH_ORTH) /PROP/TYPE22 (TSH_COMP)	16 node thick shell elements. The element can be used to model thick-walled structures situated between 3D solids and thin shells. It has 16 nodes with three translational DOF per each node. The element is quadratic in-plane and linear through the thickness.
	/TETRA10	/PROP/TYPE6 (SOL_ORTH) /PROP/TYPE14 (SOLID)	10 nodes element with 4 integration points and a quadratic shape function. This element has no hourglass, fast convergence and no shear locking, but with lower time step.
	/TETRA4	/PROP/TYPE6 (SOL_ORTH) /PROP/TYPE14 (SOLID)	Node element with one integration point and a linear shape function. This element has no hourglass, but the drawbacks are the low convergence and the shear locking.
SPH	/SPHCEL	/PROP/TYPE34 (SPH)	SPH cell with a hexagonal compact or a cubic net distribution to present the SPH Mesh.