Using the Virtual Stacking 2D Viewer and Options

Click Virtual Stacking in the Grid Design toolbar and select a Grid:

Display the table according to your needs:

Combine the Entity level (Sequence or Ply) and the View mode (Cells or Stacking areas) to retrieve and display the information you need.

Press Compare with Current State .

The current cell coverage of all elements is stored. All Tools Palette commands that have an impact on virtual element cell coverage remain available, All Tools Palette commands that have an impact on virtual element order are disabled. When you launch a Tools Palette command, the new coverage is compared with the stored one, and information on differences is displayed via visual effects: In the 2D viewer: Added cells are displayed with a white border, Removed cells are displayed with a black border. In the authoring window: Differences are visualized when you select a virtual element. Additions are symbolized by a darker orientation color, Removals are symbolized by a darker gray color. When you release , the stored information is lost. All virtual elements found with an empty cell coverage are removed. An information message is displayed.

Make a review:

Use the arrows to go from row to row, or from column to column. The names displayed below the arrows are either the name of the ply or of the sequence, and the title of the column. Those names are also displayed when you pick a cell in the 2D Viewer. By default, all virtual elements with all orientations are displayed. Select an orientation from the Filter list to display virtual elements according to their orientation or shapes of plies and sequences. Shapes of plies or sequences are proposed depending on the selected entity level, and given by the list of grid cells covered by the ply or the sequence. The name of the shape in the list is that of the first entity with this shape found in the virtual stacking table. When filtering from a shape, only the plies (or sequences) with the same shape are displayed and the first ply (or sequence) is highlighted. When filtering by shape, if the shape of the first row is modified, the rows below are replaced by plies or sequences sharing the new shape. If the shape of the next rows is modified, the rows disappear from the list as they no longer correspond to the first shape found. When an orientation filter is applied: Lock symmetry is disabled, Only Tools Palette commands that modify the virtual elements contents (especially orientation) remain available. Cut Row is available, Copy Row and Paste Row are not. Export is always performed with all orientations, Current filter applies on imported virtual elements.

Go to the Symmetry Management:

Select Lock symmetry to automatically apply modifications you make on the upper plies to their symmetry counterparts (plies greyed in the lower part of the table, below the symmetry axis (which is displayed in pink)). By default, Lock symmetry is not selected. For better performance, Cell valuation or its equivalent double-click does not start the recomputation of all symmetric layers. Click Refresh to force this recomputation when necessary. Select Automatic refresh to start an automatic recomputation, when performance is not an issue. Click Reorder plies from seq to reorder plies contained in symmetrical sequences so that they also become symmetrical. Reorder plies from seq is available when Lock symmetry is selected with Entity level set to Ply. All other Tools Palette commands start an automatic recomputation of the symmetric layers. Changing the Entity level or the View mode starts an automatic recomputation of the symmetric layers because: Symmetry can be different in Sequence or Ply level, Symmetry is not different in Cells or Stacking areas view mode, but the recomputation updates the upper and lower symmetric layers.

Go to Columns Management:

Select Prevent Auto Computation to de-activate the automatic re-computation of the stacking areas when you exit one of the Tools Palette commands. Select Reorder to reorder the stacking areas or cells according to the number of entities they cover (from the greatest to the smallest number of layers). The stacking areas or cells are not renamed. Selecting Prevent Auto Computation inactivates Reorder. By default, Prevent Auto Computation is selected. Reorder is selected.

Press one of the icons under Preview to visualize the shape of the plies without generating them.

The icons correspond to the algorithms used by Plies From Virtual Stacking.   Minimum Crossing Minimum Crossing & Weight Saving Weight Saving Drop Off Order. Available if Layer Levels are defined in the Master Stacking Sequence. The visualization is computed using the latest values used in Plies From Virtual Stacking. They are proposed until you press one, or until a re-computation is needed.  Note that: Multi-selection of plies is supported. Preview lines may be distant from the actual plies. Once computed, these previews are displayed instead of the plies. Small gaps or overlaps of preview lines may occur. Preview of steps resulting from a ramp support with no clearance are not centered.

Select Display 3D Information to display information in the authoring window:

Click Options to select the types of information to display. One label for identical cells Cells name Stacking area name Thickness law Number of plies Thickness Delta with grid data (when there is a delta).

Click Display Info Table to display an additional information table.

In this table, if the current thickness law is different from the stress thickness law, the cell will be colored: In red if the current number of plies is lower than the stress. In yellow if the current number of plies is greater than the stress. Stacking areas are computed from the cells that share the same stacking sequence and are dynamically updated.

Click More...
Additional options appear.

Click Export to export data.

Click ... to define the path of the export file. A message informs you whether the export has been successful or not. If the number of columns required is greater than 256, the export result is written over several worksheets. In Stacking areas View mode, the list of the cells corresponding to each stacking area is added to the .xls file. Export to .xls file does not export the background colors of the cells.

Click Import to import data.

Click ... to define the path of the import file. The display mode is updated according to the .xls file imported. If you have changed the names or materials of plies or sequences, this is detected and processed by the Synchronize stacking command. If the import leads to a virtual stacking incompatible with the master stacking sequence, the import fails. A message informs you whether the import has been successful or not.

Select Highlight Real Sequence or Ply
When you select a line in the dialog box, the corresponding real sequence or ply is highlighted in the authoring window, when it exists.
By default, this check box is selected.

Select Force Automatic Merge on Sequence or Ply when needed.
By default, this check box is selected.

Use the Undo/Redo arrows as necessary on virtual stacking commands.