Defining a Transition Zone

This task shows how to create a transition zone defining the geometric area of the ply drop-off between two zones.

Available in Composites Engineering Design (CPE).
Open the TransitionZone1.CATPart document.

  1. Click Transition Zone in the Preliminary Design toolbar.
    The Transition Zone Definition dialog box is displayed.

  2. Select a zone in the specification tree or in the 3D geometry.
    It is displayed in the Underlying zone field on which the transition zone lies.
    A name is given to the Transition Zone that you can modify.
    In our example, we changed the name to T1-1.
    Note that you can select a zone group created with the For Solid From Zones Creation Only option.

  3. Define a contour by selecting curves so that they form a closed contour.
    See Defining a Contour.
    A green tip replaces the red cross.

    Use Insert After, Before and Remove to modify the order of the curves as well as the contour.
    This contour must belong to the zone.

  4. Click OK to create the transition zone.
    The feature is displayed in the specification tree under the Transition Zone node.

    • You can create several transition zones between two zones.
    • The ExtrapolDist parameter is defined in the Zone Definition dialog box.
      It is stored under the contour of the transition zone.

  5. Perform this scenario as many times as you need to create transition zones.
Should you need to create the curves for the transition zone contour,
right-click in the Contour field and create the element you need.

Refer to Generative Shape Design & Optimizer User's Guide for more information.