Introduction

The Tools menu provides access to a few additional features of StressCheck that are used relatively infrequently. Below are brief descriptions of the most notable features in the Tools menu (Figure 1):

Mode

Allows the user to switch between standard (Standard) and debug (Debug) modes. Debug mode is applicable for reading model files with known errors or issues, and users should only use this mode when instructed by ESRD Support.

Convert Element Mapping

Allows the user to switch between Quadratic and Geometric mapping if the model contains automeshed elements (Figure 2).

• Note: conversion to Geometric mapping is most applicable for multi-body contact analyses.
• For most analyses, Quadratic mapping is sufficient.
• For more information about mapping refer to the Meshing Overview.

Sets Browser

Allows the user a convenient way to select objects belonging to one or more sets, to be subsequently incorporated into a new set for assigning thickness, material, boundary conditions, or other modeling attributes (Figure 3).

The Sets browser may be activated by selecting the main menu Tools > Sets Browser option. The browser is also automatically activated when picking an object while holding the Ctrl-Shift keys; if the object is in a set, the entire set will be highlighted.

The Sets Browser interface consists of a list of candidate sets displayed at the right, and a list of selected sets displayed at the left.

• If launched from the Tools menu, the candidate list will automatically be filled with the names of all sets that match the current object type.
• If launched from a Ctrl-Shift-Pick, the candidate list will be filled only with the names of those sets containing the picked object.
• The Candidate sets list may also be filled by the names of all sets of a particular type by making a selection from the “Objects” combo box.

When a set name from either list is selected, the members of that set will automatically be highlighted on the screen. A Candidate set may be identified as a Selection set by double clicking the set name (or selecting the set name and clicking the Move button) from the list at the right, at which time it will be added to the selection list at the left. For example, to select all elements in the automatically generated mesh set “_AUTO_B_35” simply change the Objects combo-box in the Sets Browser to “Any Element”, then double-click on “_AUTO_B_35” in the Candidate sets list (Figure 3). All elements in the element set “_AUTO_B_35” will be selected.

• To remove a selected set name from the list at the left, double click the set name or select the set name and click the Delete button.
• To remove all sets listed in the selection list, click the Purge button.
• To highlight the members of all selection sets, click the Select icon. The members of the selection sets will also be highlighted whenever the Move, Delete or Select icons are picked.

For more information on sets, refer to Sets Overview.

Surface Loads

Surfaces can be queried for load assignments with the Surface Loads Browser. Querying a surface provides a list of loads applied to that surface (using an Any Surface assignment) and allows direct selection of the assigned loads for editing. This feature is useful if there are tens or hundreds of load assignments and you want to select a load applied to a particular surface without checking every single load assignment.

Figure 4 demonstrates the expected behavior of the Surface Loads Browser before selecting a loaded surface (top) and after selecting a loaded surface (bottom):

To use this feature, set the Object dropdown on the Load tab to “Any Surface”, then open the Surface Loads Browser from the Tools menu:

• Enable the surface query mode by toggling on the hand icon.
• While surface query mode is on, select any surface:
  • The surface query mode automatically turns off and all of the loads assigned to the selected surface are shown in the browser.
    • If no loads are assigned, the browser provides feedback “no assigned loads”.
  • Selecting any load in the browser list updates the Load tab of the StressCheck Input dialog with the selected load for editing.
    • Selecting a different load from the browser will update the selected load record.
• At any time the surface query mode can be toggled on and a new surface selected.

Note: if the Input dialog gains cursor focus, the Surface Loads Browser will be automatically closed.

Graphic Capture

To create a Graphic output file from a StressCheck session, select Tools > Graphic Capture from the Main Menu Bar, and cross hairs will appear. Using the cross-hairs, draw a marquee frame over the area you wish to screen capture and a Save-As dialog window will appear. Enter the name of the file to be created (with or without extension), select the desired option (JPEG or Bitmap), and click on the Save button. The box will disappear, and the graphic file will be created.

Graphic Editor

To edit an image with StressCheck, select Graphic Editor from the Tools Menu. A Bitmap Editor dialog will appear, with various image editing options. Newly created images can be saved or previously created images can be opened using this window.

Table Reset (Debug Mode Only)

This is an advanced feature used only when table data is used to describe a fitted material. The table data may be stored in standard element coordinates. When loading a batch file (.sci) containing table data which has standard element coordinates, StressCheck will assume that since the data has just been read into the program, the coordinates have not yet been inverse mapped, and will repeat the inverse mapping operation.

If you select “Table Reset”, the inverse mapping operation will be skipped. This is important when the table data is stored in standard coordinates, and some parametric geometry is changed, but the relative locations within each element should be preserved.