Parabolic Arc Generation

The Parabolic Arc generation is used to make arcs that are parabolic. The arc model is comprised of nodes and optional members.

Click on image to enlarge it

Parabolic Arc Generation Options

Option	Description
Parabolic Arc - tab
Rotation Axis	Allows you to define the axis to which the direction of the arc will be oriented.
Arc Segments	Allows you to define the number or segments the arc is broken into.
Polar Origin	Allows you to define the reference point from which the arc height and width are measured and the rotation axis is defined.
Arc Height	Allows you to define the distance from the polar origin to the highest point on the parabolic arc.
Arc Width	Allows you to distance between the two ends of the parabolic arc.
Member Section Data - tab
Material	Allows you to define the material used to assign the arc member.
Section Set	Allows you to define the section set assigned for the arc member.
x-x Rotation	Allows you to define the local x-axis rotation of the arc relative to the global X axis.
Member Prefix	Allows you to define prefixes to member labels for members created using the parabolic arc generator.
Node Prefix	Allows you to define prefixes to node labels for members created using the parabolic arc generator.

Specify the polar origin about which the arc will be generated.

You must enter the arc height and the arc width and choose a rotation axis.

Enter the number of arc increments to be used to model the arc. The more increments used, the more closely the final geometry follows the desired parabola. The minimum increments are two, which gives you a triangular shape.

You may optionally enter a Node Label prefix that is used for all the nodes generated as part of the arc. This is useful if you want a way to track individual parts of your model by looking at node prefixes.

To generate members for the arc, you must select a valid section set. This section set is used for all parts of the arc. If you don’t select a section set, it generates an arc of nodes without members. The “x-axis rotate” can be used to rotate the local axes to a desired orientation, however you may find that a K-joint better serves this purpose in some instances. You can also have unique labels assigned to the generated members, by entering a start label.