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Engineering Tools — Membrane Plate Laminate Converter (00222)
What this tool does
Converts PSHELL plate properties that use membrane-only stiffness
representation (separate membrane and bending E values or zero
bending stiffness) into equivalent PCOMP laminate cards. Useful for
making legacy decks compatible with downstream tools that expect
laminated cards, or for moving from an analytical homogenised plate
representation to an explicit ply-level laminate.
When you want it
- Pre-processor migration. A new tool in your
workflow only accepts PCOMP; your existing model uses PSHELL with
homogenised properties.
- Stiffness audit. Converting to PCOMP makes the
through-thickness layup explicit, so you can audit the assumed
stacking sequence and material directions against the as-designed
laminate.
- Failure-criterion analysis. Some failure tools
(Tsai-Wu, Hashin) require ply-level stress recovery, which means a
PCOMP card.
How the conversion works
For each input PSHELL with a homogenised laminate representation:
- The membrane stiffness E_mem and total thickness t are read from
the PSHELL.
- The user picks the assumed ply material and ply orientation
distribution (the dialog defaults to a quasi-isotropic
[0/45/-45/90]_s stack as a starting point).
- The tool computes a PCOMP card with ply thicknesses scaled to
match the original membrane stiffness.
- If the original PSHELL had a separate bending stiffness, the
tool reports a stiffness ratio — a quasi-isotropic conversion
preserves the membrane stiffness but typically gives a different
bending stiffness than the homogenised input.
This is a SIMPLIFICATION, not a faithful conversion. Use it as a
starting point, then verify the resulting PCOMP's stiffness matrix
matches expectations before using the new card in production
analyses.
How to use it
- Open from Custom Tools > Properties > Membrane
Plate Laminate Converter.
- Pick one or more PSHELL properties to convert.
- Pick the ply material to use in the resulting PCOMP.
- Pick the layup pattern (quasi-iso default, or specify a custom
ply orientation list).
- Click OK. New PCOMP properties are created; the original
PSHELL cards are left in place. Elements are not automatically
re-pointed — you must do that manually after verifying the
new cards.
Verification
After conversion, verify the new PCOMP's effective in-plane
stiffness matches the original PSHELL membrane stiffness:
Original PSHELL: E_mem * t
New PCOMP: A11 (from classical lamination theory)
These should agree to within 1%. If they don't, the ply
material or thickness scaling needs adjustment.
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