Unstructured Cell Data Format

Unstructured Cell Data Format


Overview

Data that is made up of a number of blocks is referred to as Unstructured cell data. This data type is used to read in data representing results of analyses such as finite element analyses. Version 4.0 support 2nd order cell data.


Types of Elements


There are 13 types of elements in MicroAVS as shown in the Figure. The number attached to each node defines the order to be used when specifying connectivity in the data file.


Types of Elements for Unstructured Cell Data

File Extension

The data file extension is .inp.

Format

The Unstructured Data File is an ASCII file. The format has 2 types that is single step file format and time-dependent file format. these format is shown below.

The simple step file format

(Total num of nodes) (Total num of elements) (Num of data at each node) (Num of data at each element) (Num of data for this model)
(Node 1) (X coordinate) (Y coordinate) (Z coordinate)
(Node 2) (X coordinate) (Y coordinate) (Z coordinate)
...
...
...
(Element 1) (Material num) (Type of element) (The connectivity of nodes of the element)
(Element 2) (Material num) (Type of element) (The connectivity of nodes of the element)
...
...
(Number of data components at each node) (Number of structures) (Number of structures) ...
(The label for each node data component), (unit)
(The label for each node data component), (unit)
...
...
...
(Node 1) (Node Data) (Node Data)....
(Node 2) (Node Data), (Node Data)...
...
...
...
(Number of data components at each element) (Number of structures) (Number of structures) ...
(The label for each element data component), (unit)
(The label for each element data component), (unit)
...
...
...
(Element 1) (Element Data) (Element Data)....
(Element 2) (Element Data), (Element Data)...
...
...
...

Total num of nodes
Specifies the total number of nodes.

Total num of elements
Specifies the total number of elements.

Number of Data at each node
Specifies the number of data at each node. If node data isn't exist, Set to 0.

Number of Data at each element
Specifies the number of data at each element. If node data isn't exist, Set to 0.

Number of data for each model
this value must be set to 0.

Node number
the nodes are numbered starting from 1 to define coordinate values.

X coordinate Y coordinate Z coordinate
the coordinates of each direction are specified separated using the space character. Even for planar elements such as triangles and quadrilaterals, the Z coordinate(0) has to be specified.

Element number
An integer starting with 1 used to distinguish each element.

Material number
this value must be set to 0.

Types of elements
The elements described earlier are specified using keywords. The keywords corresponding to each element is shown in the Table.

Types of Elements keywords
pointpt
lineline
triangletri
quadrilateralquad
tetrahedrontet
pyramidpyr
prismprism
hexahedronhex

Keyword for each element

Connectivity of nodes that make up the element
the connectivity of nodes is specified using the node numbers described earlier. Space is inserted between two numbers. The order in which the nodes of each element are connected depends on the numbers assigned to them in the Fig.

Number of data components for each node
The number of data components per node is specified. The value is the same as that specified in the first line (Number of data for each node).

Number of structures
A number of 1s equal to the number of data components at each node are specified. The 1s are separated by spaces.

Labels for the data components at each node
Labels are assigned to data components at each node. A comma , is inserted after each label to separate it from the next. If there are more than two data components and multiple labels are to be specified, then the labels can be specified on different lines.

Labels for the data components at each element
Labels are assigned to data components at each element. A comma , is inserted after each label to separate it from the next. If there are more than two data components and multiple labels are to be specified, then the labels can be specified on different lines.

Note: Even if units are not specified, a comma is to be inserted after each label.

Units (optional)
A unit is specified for the data components of each node. However, this specification is optional.

Node number
A number assigned initially to each node to enable definition of coordinate values. Here, these numbers are used to define data.

Node data
Node data is specified to the right of each node number. If there are multiple data, they are separated by spaces.

Element number
these numbers are used to define Element data.

Element data
Element data is specified to the right of each element number. If there are multiple data, they are separated by spaces.


The time-dependent file format (Multistep)

(comments)
(number of steps)
(cycle data)
(step1) (comments)
(Total num of nodes) (Total num of elements)
(Node 1) (X coordinate) (Y coordinate) (Z coordinate)
(Node 2) (X coordinate) (Y coordinate) (Z coordinate)
.
.
.
(Element 1) (Material num) (Type of element) (The connectivity of nodes of the element)
(Element 2) (Material num) (Type of element) (The connectivity of nodes of the element)
.
.
.
(Number of data components at each node) (Number of data components at each element)
(Node Number) (Number of structures at each node1) (Number of structures at each node2) .....(Number of structures at each component)
(The label for each node data component), (unit)
(The label for each node data component), (unit)
.
.
.
(Labels for the data components at each node), (unit)
(Node 1) (Node data 1) (Node data 2) .....
(Node 2) (Node data 1) (Node data 2) .....
.
.
.
(Element Number) (Number of structures at each element1) (Number of structures at each element2) .....(Number of structures at each elements)
(The label for each element data component), (unit)
(The label for each element data component), (unit)
.
.
.
(Labels for the data components at each element), (unit)
(Element 1) (Element data 1) (Element data 2) .....
(Element 2) (Element data 1) (Element data 2) .....
.
.
.
(step2) (comment) (Total num of nodes) (Total num of elements)
.
.
.

comments
Lines begining with # are comments and are ignored. However, no comments can be entered within the data description.

number of step
Defines the number of steps in the file. If this line isn't exist, the format is recognized as the simple step format.

cycle type
cycle type can take three values that are data, geom and data_geom. For each of these types, the data is ordered as given below.

data

Geometry data is defined only in the first step. Node/Element data is defined in every step.
geom

Geometry data is defined in every step while Node/Element data is defiled only in the first step.
data_geom

Both geometory and node data are defined in every step.

step number
Specifies the step number at the begining of every step. For example, you must specify the first step as step1, the second step as step2 and so on.

comment(option)
Comments(optional) Comments on every step can be inserted after the step number.

Total num of nodes
Same means as simple step format.

Total num of elements
Same means as simple step format.

Number of Data at each node
Same means as simple step format.

Number of Data at each element
Same means as simple step format.

Number of data for each model
Same means as simple step format.

Node number
Same means as simple step format.

X coordinate Y coordinate Z coordinate
Same means as simple step format.

Element number
Same means as simple step format.

Material number
Same means as simple step format.

Types of elements
Specifies the cell type is shown below. Second order cells type can be used only the time dependent file format. If you define these types of elements in the single step format will be ignored.

Types of Elements keywords
pointpt
lineline
triangletri
quadrilateralquad
tetrahedrontet
pyramidpyr
prismprism
hexahedronhex
2nd order cell data
line2line2
triangle2tri2
quadrilateral2quad2
tetrahedron2tet2
pyramid2pyr2
prism2prism2
hexahedron2hex2

Keyword for each element

Connectivity of nodes that make up the element
Same means as simple step format.

Number of data components at each node
Same means as simple step format.

Number of data components at each element
Same means as simple step format.

Label for each node data component
Same means as simple step format.

Label for each element data component
Same means as simple step format.

unit (optional)
Same means as simple step format.

Node number
Same means as simple step format.

Node data
Same means as simple step format.

Element data
Same means as simple step format.


Addendum

here is a slight difference between the UCD data file format of AVS5, AVS/Express and the unstructured cell data format of MicroAVS. The MicroAVS unstructured cell data format does not support data components made up multiple data.

Examples of Unstructured Cell Data Creation

Sample files are located in <directory in which MicroAVS is installed>/ DATA/UCD/SAMPLES and can be referred to if necessary.

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