Converting Stiffener into Plates

You can convert the web and flange of a stiffener into two panels, or a panel and a flat bar. The web and flange of the stiffener can be converted into panel based on the section parameters and composite section parameters.

Before you begin:
  • The Web_Thickness, Web_Height, Web_Material, Flange_Thickness, Flange_Height and Flange_Material parameters should be defined for the section of the selected stiffener.
  • The selected stiffener should be created using the Along plane option.
Related Topics
Convert Stiffener Dialog Box

  1. Click Convert Stiffener in the Operation toolbar.

    The Convert Stiffener dialog box appears.

  2. In the Stiffener box, select a stiffener.

    The section dimensions appear in the Section box.

  3. In the Material list, select material for plate.

  4. In the Thickness box, enter the thickness value.

  5. In the Height box, enter the height value.

  6. Similar to web fill the Material, Thickness and Height boxes for flange.

  7. Select the Remove Stiffener after Conversion check box.

  8. Click OK.

The stiffener is converted into two panels. Two nodes are created in the specification tree indicating new panels.

Before
After

Notes:

  • You can select the Impacted Objects tab to see the list of the impacted objects by respective stiffeners and their status after conversion.
  • Stiffener supported on a plane or a planar surface can be converted to panel using this command.

Important: If the material, thickness or height attributes are locked in the section declaration, then the corresponding boxes are unavailable.
Tip: To expose the section to the Convert Stiffener command with some automation, you can add section parameters that will be used by the command to pre-define the dialog box inputs. These parameters must be declared. Also, there should not be any subset.

In the sample Structure_Sections.3dxml file provided with this application following sections have section parameters predefined: WT8x25, WT2.5x9.5, WT18x179.5, WT18x115, FL_20x0.025, FL_10x0.1875, FL_18x0.395 and FL_8x1.