Customizing the appearance of fibers in a ply stack plot

Click the Fiber tab to choose whether fibers are displayed in the ply stack plot and the appearance of the fibers. The fibers are always drawn in the 1–2 plane at an angle with respect to the 1-direction. For more information, see Understanding composite layups and orientations.

Context:

If you use a coordinate system to define the ply's orientation, Abaqus/CAE cannot determine the orientation within an element without knowing the spatial orientation of the element. Therefore, Abaqus/CAE displays an asterisk (*) in place of the ply fibers to signify that it cannot draw lines in the 1–2 plane that represent the fiber direction. For the same reason, Abaqus/CAE cannot draw lines that accurately represent the fiber direction if the ply's orientation is defined using a discrete field distribution; a caret (^) in place of the ply fibers indicates that the additional rotation in a ply's orientation is defined using a discrete field.

In solid composite layups the fibers in a ply do not always run parallel to the 1–2 plane (e.g., if the 3-direction of the ply orientation and the element stacking direction are not aligned). Since fibers in a ply stack plot are always drawn in the 1–2 plane, they are not a true depiction of the fibers in the solid composite. Instead the fibers are a graphical representation of the rotation angles in the composite section or layup definition: the angle drawn in the ply stack plot is the rotation angle specified in the ply table measured about the element stacking direction axis.

  1. Locate the fiber options.

    1. Click the Ply Stack Plot Options button from the prompt area, or do one of the following:

      • In the Property module, choose ViewPly Stack Plot Options.

      • In the Visualization module, choose OptionsPly Stack Plot or click the tool in the toolbox.

    2. Click the Fiber tab in the Ply Stack Plot Options dialog box that appears.

  2. Do the following:

    • Toggle on Show fibers to display fibers in the ply stack plot.

    • Choose the color, style, and thickness of the lines that represent fibers in the ply stack plot.

    • Drag the Spacing slider to change the number of fibers that are displayed.

  3. Click Apply to implement your changes.

    The ply stack plot changes to reflect your specifications.

    By default, your changes are saved for the duration of the session and will affect all subsequent ply stack plots in that viewport. If you want to retain your changes for subsequent sessions, save them to a file. For more information, see Saving customizations for use in subsequent sessions.