A3.1 CR EATION OF A STEPPED BEAM

A stepped beam as shown in Figure P3.6 can be created by adding two rectangular areas of different sizes:

1. Create two rectangular areas of different sizes, say 50 mm by 20 mm with WP X= 50 mm and WP Y= ?10 mm, and 60 mm by 10 mm with WP X= ?10mm and WP Y= ?10mm, following operations described in 3.1.3.1.

2. Select the Boolean operation of adding areas as follows to open the Add Areas window (see Figure 3.46)

   <b class="bold">COMMAND  ANSYS Main Menu <span class="unicode">?</span> Preprocessor <span class="unicode">?</span> Modeling <span class="unicode">?</span> Operate <span class="unicode">?</span> Booleans <span class="unicode">?</span> Add <span class="unicode">?</span> Areas</b>

3. Pick all the areas to add by the upward arrow.

4. The color of the areas picked turns from light blue into pink (see Figure 3.47). Click [A] OK button to add the two rectangular areas to create a stepped beam area as shown in Figure 3.48.

Figure 3.46: "Add Areas" window

Figure 3.47: Two rectangular areas of different sizes to be added to create a stepped beam area

Figure 3.48: A stepped beam area created by adding two rectangle areas