This method returns the mass properties of the element set. Only beams, trusses, shells,
solids, point, nonstructural mass, and rotary inertia elements are supported.
Return value
A Dictionary object with the following items:
area: None or a Float specifying the sum of the area of the specified
faces. The area is computed only for one side for shells.
areaCentroid: None or a tuple of three Floats representing the coordinates
of the area centroid.
volume: None or a Float specifying the volume of the specified
elements.
volumeCentroid: None or a tuple of three Floats representing the
coordinates of the volume centroid.
massFromMassPerUnitSurfaceArea: None or a Float specifying the mass due to
mass per unit surface area.
mass: None or a Float specifying the mass of the specified elements. It is
the total mass and includes mass from quantities such as mass per unit surface
area.
centerOfMass: None or a tuple of three Floats representing the coordinates
of the center of mass.
momentOfInertia: None or a tuple of six Floats representing the moments of
inertia about the center of mass or about the point specified.
warnings: A tuple of SymbolicConstants representing the problems
encountered while computing the mass properties. Possible SymbolicConstants are:
UNSUPPORTED_ENTITIES: Some unsupported entities exist in the
specified elements. The mass properties are computed only for beams, trusses, shells,
solids, point and nonstructural mass elements, and rotary inertia elements. The mass
properties are not computed for axisymmetric elements, springs, connectors, gaskets, or
any other elements.
MISSING_THICKNESS: For some elements, the section definitions are
missing thickness values.
ZERO_THICKNESS: For some elements, the section definitions have a
zero thickness value.
VARIABLE_THICKNESS: The nodal thickness or field thickness specified
for some elements has been ignored.
NON_APPLICABLE_THICKNESS: For some elements, the thickness value is
not applicable to the corresponding sections specified on the element.
MISSING_DENSITY: For some elements, the section definitions are
missing material density values.
MISSING_MATERIAL_DEFINITION: For some elements, the material
definition is missing.
ZERO_DENSITY: For some elements, the section definitions have a zero
material density value.
UNSUPPORTED_DENSITY: For some elements, either a negative material
density or a temperature-dependent density has been specified, or the material value is
missing for one or more plies in the composite section.
SHELL_OFFSETS: For shells, this method does not account for any
offsets specified.
MISSING_SECTION_DEFINITION: For some elements, the section definition
is missing.
UNSUPPORTED_SECTION_DEFINITION: The section definition provided for
some elements is not supported.
REINFORCEMENTS: This method does not account for any reinforcements
specified on the model.
SMEARED_PROPERTIES: For elements with composite section
assignments, the density is smeared across the thickness. The volume centroid and center
of mass computations for a composite shell use a lumped mass approach where the volume and
mass is assumed to be lumped in the plane of the shell. As a result of these
approximations the volume centroid, center of mass and moments of inertia might be
slightly inaccurate for elements with composite section assignments.
UNSUPPORTED_NON_STRUCTURAL_MASS_ENTITIES: This method does not
account for any nonstructural mass on wires.
INCORRECT_MOMENT_OF_INERTIA: For elements with nonstructural mass per
volume, the nonstructural mass is assumed to be a point mass at the centroid of the
regions. Thus, the moments of inertia might be inaccurate as the distribution of the
nonstructural mass is not accounted for. Use the mesh for accurately computing the moments
of inertia.
MISSING_BEAM_ORIENTATIONS: For some elements with beam section
assignments, the beam section orientations are missing.
UNSUPPORTED_BEAM_PROFILES: This method supports the Box, Pipe,
Circular, Rectangular, Hexagonal, Trapezoidal, I, L, T, Arbitrary, and Tapered beam
profiles. Any other beam profile is not supported.
TAPERED_BEAM_MI: Moment of inertia calculations for tapered beams are
not accurate.
SUBSTRUCTURE_INCORRECT_PROPERTIES: The user-assigned density and
thickness is not considered for substructures.