Materials window
The Materials window is used to create and maintain the list of project specific material properties.
The list of materials offered in this window can be synchronised with materials directly entered and used in the model, thus all materials constituting the component are displayed here also.
The primary use of this window is to prepare lists of materials which, in cooperation with other windows, allow significant simplification and acceleration during the input of element properties for material boxes. Materials already prepared within another project can be merged to the list also.
Upper part of the window lists materials. The bottom part - Material Editor - allows definition of material properties.
Important: Changes to material properties in the project specific materials list do not automatically propagate to properties of construction elements. Applying new material properties to selected elements must be done explicitly - either by a double-click onto a list item or via a drag-drop operation from the material list.
Remark: Additional materials can be also selected from Material Database window by drag-drop from database (Material Database can be opened from the Tab "Material DB"). Dropping some material identical to the one in the list will be inhibited.
Material list
A double-click onto a line representing material in this window results in an assignment of material properties of selected material to currently selected material elements (selected from elements list).
Also, by drag-drop operation (by dragging with the mouse), a material line can be dragged onto element editor window resulting in assignment of material properties to the element currently shown there.
Materials window can be opened either from main menu View→Data Input & Entry→Materials or from element editor by a double-click onto material name, conductivity and other material property input fields.
| Double-click left mouse button | Transfer of material properties of selected material onto currently selected element(s) in the element list. |
| Dragging with left mouse button | Transfer of material properties of dragged material to material element currently edited in element editor, or: |
| Click right mouse button | Exposes the context menu of material editing functions. |
| Click left mouse button | Selection of material from material list. Properties of selected material are displayed in Material Editor for further processing. |
Remark: If there are several elements selected (from element list) then a double-click onto the material line (or drag-drop of material line) result in the assignment of material properties to all selected elements. Such bulk element assignment has to be confirmed by the user. If within selected elements there are some of incompatible type (non material) further user confirmation is requested.
Functions of the context menu
| Add Material INS-Key | A new material is appended at the end of the list. |
| Delete Material DEL-Key | Deletes selected material from the list. |
| Synch. from Elements | Executes immediate synchronisation of material list from properties of all elements currently in the modelled component |
| Autosynch. from Elements | The synchronisation of material list from properties of all elements in the modelled component will be executed automatically (checkmark is visible) and can be turned on or off here. |
| Pick from Project... | Materials saved within another project will be read and appended to the list. |
| Sort Materials | Materials will be sorted by name, λ, μ, ρ and c. |
Synchronisation of material list
The list of materials offered in this window can be synchronized (extended) with materials currently in use in the modelled component, thus all materials used in the model are also displayed. This provides the ability to transfer properties directly entered in element editor to the list and have them at hand as additional entries.
Synchronisation can be explicitly requested from the context menu of the material list ("Synch. from Elements") or will automatically be executed on each element selection change when the application setting "Autosynch. from Elements" is active.
Synchronisation executes by following steps:
- All elements of modelled component are analysed.
- Material properties of each material element are extracted.
- If no such material (name, lambda, my) can be found in material list it is appended to it.
- Materials appended during this synchronisation run and appended at the end of the list are sorted alphabetically.
This procedure assures, that entries are retained in the list and only "missing" materials will extend it.
Remark: Automatic synchronisation of list contents, if active, occurs on each element selection change. Changes to element properties (in Element Editor) alone do not result in automatic synchronisation yet. Immediate synchronisation can be explicitly requested from the context menu of the material list ("Synch. from Elements").
Tip: To have the list showing only materials actually used in the modelled component delete all materials from the list (this can be quickly done with DEL-key) and then request immediate synchronisation from component's elements. Unused materials are not removed automatically from the list!
Remark: Even if values of ρ (density) and c (heat capacity) are transferred from material database, these values cannot be modified unless the licence feature INSTATIONARY is available (these data is not used during nor required for the steady state simulation).
See also: Element Editor, Elements 2D, Element list, Material Editor