Section Through Surface
In addition to the No. of the section, you have to enter the Section Name that ensures a reliable assignment when evaluating results. All sections are stored in the Data navigator under Sections where they can be adjusted retroactively. Entering the number and name is unnecessary if the Save section check box is cleared in the Options dialog section.
If you create a Section Through a Surface, the surface-specific parameters and the corresponding graphics are displayed in the Section Type and Projection Direction dialog sections.
The Section Type can be created as a Plane that slices the model.
As an alternative, you can cut along any line in the model.
The line number can be entered manually or determined in the work window using 
.
The Edge Points of Section must be specified with the global coordinates XYZ of both points A and B.
You can also select them graphically with 
.
To be able to select free points (i.e. no nodes) in the work window, you may have to adjust the current work plane.
Starting from points A and B, two straight lines are "drawn" in the projection direction. If the lines intersect a surface contained in the On surfaces No. list, the result diagram is displayed along the connecting line of both intersection points. If several surfaces are cut by the projection plane, result diagrams are displayed for each of these surfaces.
In addition to the global Projection Directions in X, Y, and Z, it is possible to define a vector.
With you can select two points in the work window to define the vector.
The Show Result Diagram in Plane dialog section defines, in which surface plane the section is displayed. The setting only affects the work window (see Figure 9.27) but not the Result Diagram dialog box (Figure 9.25).
The On surfaces dialog section lists the numbers of surfaces on which the cutting lines are displayed.
This option is useful if the section plane intersects with several surfaces.
You can also select the relevant surfaces graphically by using the button.
The three check boxes in the Options dialog section allow you to control whether the result diagrams are displayed as a dialog box after clicking [OK] (Figure 9.25) and if you want to Save the section. When you select the Show values on isolines check box, isolines are labeled automatically in the work window.
If the dialog input is complete, select [OK]. Usually, the following Result Diagram dialog box appears:
When you move the mouse along the section in the diagram, you can see the "moving" result values for the current x-location. The location x is related to the section start A and indicated in the upper right corner of the window. It is also possible to manually enter a specific location x into the text box. The Fixed check box pins the pointer to the indicated location.
Use the list in the toolbar to switch between the individual sections.
The buttons of the Result Diagram dialog box are described in Table 9.1.
With the button shown on the left, you can switch the sections on and off in the work window. You can also use the Results navigator, which allows you to additionally select specific sections among the saved ones.
The Display navigator provides global setting options for displaying sections.
The following figure shows a section through a plane and a curved surface that are both cut by the section plane. For this graphic display, the Result Diagrams Filled option was selected in the Display navigator.
