3.2.6 Zones

Zones

By means of zones, you can subdivide the model into parts and assign specific properties, such as materials with their roughness parameters. Zones are also useful when you want to examine the local surface results of components inclusive of their drag forces.

To manage the zones, select the Zones tab in the work window. The panel Editor is automatically set to the management of zones. When you have imported the model from RFEM/RSTAB, the materials defined in the Dlubal application are preset in the Zones section of the panel.

The triangular mesh elements are displayed on the model. You can assign elements to the preset zones. If you want to define a new zone, click [New Zone] in the Edit Zones section of the panel.

In the New Zone dialog box, enter the Name of the zone. You can select one the existing materials from the list to assign its roughness parameters. The button enables you to define a new material. If you do not change the preset No Material option, the global roughness parameters will be applied to the new zone.

To allocate mesh elements to a zone, use one of the options in the Selection Tools section of the panel. You can either select the triangle element(s) first and then click on the zone in the panel, or select the zone first and then assign the triangle(s).

The Selection Tools buttons have the following functions:

Table 3.1 Selection Tools buttons

Button	Function
	Selects a single triangle element when clicking it with pointer
	Selects several elements when moving brush over them
	Selects several elements when drawing a rhomboid over them
	Selects several elements when drawing a circle from a selected centre
	Selects several elements when defining a free polygon around them

Note that the elements of all planes intersecting with the projection of the defined area will be included, too.