D3PLOT 22.1

MAGNIFY_DISPLACEMENTS Factoring Nodal Displacements

By default D3PLOT plots nodal coordinates at their true positions: a displacement factor of 1.0. However there are times when you may wish to factor displacements, for example when stresses are in the linear elastic range and displacements hardly visible. The figure below left shows an example of unfactored, and below right, factored (magnified by 50), displacements for a cantilever subject to a point load on its end.

General Displacement Magnification Factors

The MAGNIFY_DISPLACEMENTS value control panel is shown in the figure (right).

To enter factors type in [ Fx,Fy,Fz ], or use one of the pre-programmed factors (x5 , x10 , etc). The CANCEL button sets all factors back to the default of 1.0. The Factor on Curr slider applies the given factor to the current values - an easy way of setting any value.

When you have defined the factors use DONE to return and apply them.

Factors take effect the next time you update the plot, and stay in effect until changed again.

Note 1:

Factors only apply to plots. They have no effect on written of X-Y data output, calculation of volumes etc, or contoured values of displacement.

Note 2:

Magnified displacements may be used in conjunction with the other DEFORM options: see Note 3 in Notes on explosion vectors for the order of operations.

Magnification Text Display Tickbox

The Display Magnification Factor tickbox allows users to toggle the visibility of the magnification factor text in the graphics window. It should be noted that even if the box is ticked, if a magnification is not set (i.e. the values are all 1 in all directions), the value will not be shown for most models. The exception includes cases such as when a Nastran OP2 model is loaded in the same Window at the same time. An alternative switch to toggle the visibility of these values is under Display Options → Window Dressing .

Magnification Formatting Controls

Additionally there is a dropdown box with formatting options Automatic, Scientific, General and Manual. Automatic changes the formatting of the numbers based on predetermined rules for each set of values. Scientific and General allow the user to customise the number of exponent, and Manual allows full control over the number of decimal places and the exponent value.

Eigenmode Magnification Factors

Magnifications set when reading in eigenmode models (d3eigv, Nastran OP2 and OptiStruct) in the OPEN PLOT FILE panel can be modified at a later stage in this panel. The main difference is that here, the settings are a per-window attribute (changes here affect each model in the window) compared to being per model at the file opening stage.

The magnification value specified in this panel overrides the value set in the OPEN PLOT FILE panel. The two values are not both applied to the model in a compound way.

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