META Tutorials

DURABILITY

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1
1.1. Prerequisites ..................................................................................................................... 1
1.2. Problem Description.......................................................................................................... 1
1.3. Data Files.......................................................................................................................... 1
2. Post Processing Procedure .................................................................................................. 2
2.1. Read Model Geometry and Results .................................................................................. 2
2.2. Handling of entities display. .............................................................................................. 4
2.3. Set Undeform states ......................................................................................................... 7
2.4. Fringe (contour) plots and options .................................................................................... 8
2.5. Fringebar (color bar) options ........................................................................................... 10
1.2.6. Range options .............................................................................................................. 12
2.7. Identification of results .................................................................................................... 14
2.8. Statistics ......................................................................................................................... 16
2.9. Annotations ..................................................................................................................... 18
2.10. Append Results - Scalar and Vector results simultaneously ......................................... 23
2.11. Report ........................................................................................................................... 24
2.12. Model Report ................................................................................................................ 27
3. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 28
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1. Introduction

This tutorial provides an entry overview of basic post-processing steps that could be followed within META to conduct a
standard Static analysis.
Not all META capabilities and features are exhausted within this tutorial.

The steps described in this tutorial include:

Load the model geometry and results
Identify different items of the model
Fringe (contour) plots and options
Fringebar options
Range options
Identification of results
Statistics
Annotations
Appending results
Scalar and Vector plots simultaneously
Report

1.1. Prerequisites
It is recommended for users who have never used META before to read the Chapter 2 of META User’s Guide.

1.2. Problem Description

The model used for this tutorial is shown in the picture. It

consists of two plates connected along one of their edge
defining an angle of 90° and two stripes of bar elements to
support the two plates. Seven different loadcases (subcases)
have been solved. The first three are pure Torsion, Tension
and Bending respectively and the last 4 are combinations of
the first 3.

1.3. Data Files

The files required for this tutorial are
/tutorials/META_tutorials/STATIC/2_plates_bars.nas
/tutorials/META_tutorials/STATIC/2_plates_bars.op2

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2. Post Processing Procedure

2.1. Read Model Geometry and Results

Start META.
From the Read Results > Geometry tab, first make sure that the
File Format option menu is switched to either Auto detect or
1 Nastran.
1. Invoke the File Manager.

2. Navigate and select one of the files:

2 2_plates_bars.nas
2_plates_bars.op2

Tips:
The model’s geometry can be read either from the input file
(NASTRAN Bulk data) or the .op2 file.
3 However loading geometry from the input file (NASTRAN Bulk
data) provides extra information for the loads of each subcase.

3. Press Open to read in the model.

The model is read and it should appear as it is shown in the image

on the left.

1. Switch the Read Results card to the Results tab. The

corresponding .op2 file is automatically selected and all available
subcases are identified in the States tab and selected by default.
1
Tips:
You may deselect from the list the subcases that you do not want
to load. For this example, load all subcases.

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2. Switch to the Deformation tab. By default, the Displacements,

Translational components are selected for loading.

Tips:
In case other nodal vector data (such as SPC forces, velocities,
2 etc) should be loaded as Deformation results, this can be set here
through the two option menus.

3. Select from the Read Options > Deformation Scale Factor

menu, at the bottom of the Deformation tab, to the Auto calculate
option.

Tips:
Using this option, META will calculate and assign, upon loading, an
appropriate Scale Factor for the visualization of deformations
(which is necessary in this case since this is a static analysis). In
3 such cases, it is recommended to use the Auto calculate.

4. Switch to the Scalar tab.

5. 4 menus appear. The first one holds all available types of results
(stresses, strains, etc). The second menu includes all available
types / components for the results type that is selected in the first
menu. Switch this second menu to Von Mises option.
4 The third menu includes all available options for the location of
results related to section thickness direction of shell elements.
Switch this menu to the Top and Bottom option to load results on
both sides of shells.
The fourth menu includes all available options regarding the
location of results within the element (Centroid, Integration Points,
3 Corner). Switch this menu to Corner option.

1. Press Read, at the bottom of the Read Results card, to load the
1 selected Deformation and Scalar results for the selected
subcases.

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2.2. Handling of entities display.

1. Press F12 key to open the Set Visible Entities card. Press All
button so as to enable the visualisation of boundary conditions
which are not by default visible.

SPCs are clearly visible.

FORCEs are visible but their scaling need to be adjusted.
PLOADs are hidden by the base plate.

SPCs PLOADs

Forces

1. Activate the Wire drawing style.

1 2. Press the Set Transparency button and then select the

horizontal plate.

The PLOADs can be clearly seen. These PLOADs are related to

2 the Bending loadcase.

3. Right click on the Set Transparency button. The percentage

changes to 0%. Select the same Pid to become non-transparent
again.

1. From the Tools pull-down menu open the Settings window and
set a new Load Scale factor within the Windows
Settings>General tab (the default is 1). Here a value 0.1 is
applied.

All loads are now scaled and the Forces are clearly displayed.
1 These Forces are related to the Torsion and the Tension
loadcases.

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Tips:
Torsion The length of the arrows representing
the loads, is relative to the load value.

Tension

Provided that you have loaded geometry from the input file, the
loads and the boundary conditions are grouped in META according
to the subcase they correspond to.
2
2. Open the Boundaries list

3. Select everything, and then the Hide option from the context
menu to hide all boundaries.
3

4. Select for and apply an Show on the SUBCASE_2 to view the

model with the Tension forces.

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The model with the Tension forces.

Tips:
Hide boundary conditions through the F12 card by unchecking the
respective options. This deactivates their visibility status and
boundary conditions will not be taken in account when applying
focus commands.

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2.3. Set Undeform states

1. Open Results>States and in the Undeform tab of the States

list press the Add button so as to set the ORIGINAL STATE as the
Undeform state that will be displayed always.
2. Apply a uniform User color to the Undeform state. To do this,
activate the User color toggle button. Select the Palette button to
apply a color other than the default from the color selector (here the
red color is applied).
Tips:
You can create more than one Undeform states by selecting the
state you want to be displayed as undeform and pressing the Add
button again.
1 Undeform states will be displayed in the relevant list.

3. Select SUBCASE 4 (this subcase is the combination of the first 3

subcases) in the States list.
Tips:
You can change states using:
- The Animation scroll-bar (4).
3 - The Up and Down keys when the focus is in the States List
- The Page Up and Page Down keys when the focus is on the
model
- Home and End keys navigate the model to the ORIGINAL and
the last state respectively.

The model is displayed deformed. The ORIGINAL STATE, which

was set as the Undeform state, is also displayed in red Feature
lines.

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2.4. Fringe (contour) plots and options

1. Activate the Fringe drawing style.

The model is displayed with contours.
1 Press the arrow next to the Fringe button to invoke the menu with
1 the available fringe options.

The default options are On Element and Normal Plot. On

Element, means that the element results (here Corner values) will
be considered for the interpolation at each point of the surface and
this will be represented in the fringe plot. Normal is a plot with
smoothed colors.

Any elements which do not have any scalar value are colored by
the No Value color, in this case grey.

On Element and Contour Plot.

On Node and Contour Plot

On Node and Normal Plot.

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Tips:
For all fringe plots above, the Scalar option was selected, thus, the
fringe plots correspond to the results that were loaded as Scalar
functions (in this example Von Mises, Corner values for Top and
Bottom side of shells). You may switch to X,Y, Z or T-Deform to
visualize as contour plots the values loaded as Deformation
results (in this example: Displacements).

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2.5. Fringebar (color bar) options

1. To change the fringebar, press Right Mouse Button on the

fringebar and from the menu that appears select the Fringe Colors
> Paletes and Colors to open the respective settings card.

From this card, you may double click an available color bar to set
this color bar as the active fringebar.

To define a new color bar:

1. Press the New button at the bottom of the left list and select the Empty option.
2. Enter a name for the new fringebar, for example Tutorial_1, in the field that appears and press OK.
3. Select this new color bar in the Palettes list
4. Select the colors you want to assign to the fringe bar in the Colors list (use Ctrl key for multiple selection).
5. Press the button to assign these colors to the new fringe bar.

5
3 4

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The selected colors are now listed under the new palette.

1. Double click on the New Value Color.

1 2. Set the Alpha Channel to 120.

2 3. Double click on the name of the new palette to make it active

The new color bar is now set as the active and the fringe plot is
displayed according to this.

Tips:
You may move the fringebar anywhere on the screen by moving it
with the Middle Mouse Button.
You may resize the fringebar by moving the lower right corner of
the fringebar with the Left Mouse Button.
You may alter the settings of the fringebar (fonts, add titles, color
backgrounds, etc) from the Tools>Settings>Fringebar or by
selecting the fringebar with Right Mouse Button and selecting the
Fringebar Settings option.

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1.2.6. Range options

In order to change the values of the fringe bar press Right

Mouse Button on the fringe bar. From the menu that
appears you have the options to affect the fringe bar’s
range.

You may scale the Max or the Min value or both.

For example, suppose that you would like to identify the

locations on the model that exceed the 80% of the current
maximum value.

1 1. Enter 0.8 in the Scale Limits>Max Multiplier field and

press Enter.

The maximum value that appears now with the fringebar is

the actual maximum value multiplied by 0.8. The areas that
exceed this value are colored in the top color of the
fringebar.

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You may set the Max or the Min value or both.

For example, suppose that you would like to identify the

locations on the model that stress exceeds 275 N/mm2.

1. Enter 1 again in the Scale Limits>Max Multiplier field

and press Enter.
2. Enter 275 in the Scale Limits>Max Value field and press
Enter.
3. Enter 0 in the Min Value and press Enter.

The maximum value that appears now with the fringe bar is
the value we set in the Scale Limits>Max Value.

For the current example, the Tensile Strength (ST field of

the NASTRAN card) for the material of the horizontal plate
is set to 300 N/mm2 and that of the vertical plate is set to
275 N/mm2. Suppose now that we would like to identify the
areas of these plates that exceed the allowable stress limits
for these plates.
1 1. Activate the Non-Linear from Right Mouse Button menu
on the fringebar and select the Spacing... option from Right
2 Mouse Button menu on the fringebar.
4 2. In the window that appears enter a name for the new
range that will be created.
3. Enter new values for each field, starting from the one at
the top. For the current example, enter 300 for the top value
3 and 275 for the next value. Press Enter in each field to
confirm the value.

4. When finished, press the Plus key. The range now is

saved with the specified name.

Tips:
The defined range is saved in the v15.x.x.xml file upon
quitting META and it will be available for selection in future
META sessions.
To set one of the available ranges as the current one, select
it from the relevant pull-down menu.

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2.7. Identification of results

In order to identify the extreme values of a model or of a

part of a model for the current state, you can use the
Identify menu option from the menu that appears if you
press Right Mouse Button in the drawing area or by
1 pressing the respective arrow next to the Identify button.

1. Press Right Mouse Button in the drawing area and from

the menu that appears select the Identify option.
nd
2. From the 2 menu select the iFunction.
rd
3. From the 3 menu select the Visible Elements option

2 3

The elements that hold the extreme function values (von

mises values in this case) among the visible are identified
and their Centroid and Corner values (since Corner values
were loaded) are displayed. Zoom in to that area.
Note that 2 function values are displayed. The one
corresponds to the Top side of shells and the other
corresponds to the Bottom side of shells.

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You can identify entities of the model with the help of the
Feature Selection tool.

1. Press Right Mouse Button in the drawing area and from

1 the menu that appears select the Identify option.
2. From the second menu select the iNode.
2 3. In the Feature Selection tool that appears select the
Feature Line option.

1. Pick an element’s edge to select a line of nodes.

2. Pick again an elements edge where the previous
1 selection was over.

Press Middle Mouse Button to confirm the selection and the

nodes will be identified.

Tips:
To control the display of identified data, go to the
Tools>Settings>Windows Settings>Identify or select the
Settings option from the Identify menu

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2.8. Statistics
Statistics tool is used for reporting information regarding entities of a model, for a particular subcase.
Open the Statistics table from Tools>Statistics.
You can see information about the parts of the model
for the current subcase.
Tips:
Having the synchronize button activated the table
is automatically updated every time the subcase
changes.

1. Switch from All Entities to the Nodes option. The

table is now empty.
2. Press the Identified button, in the menu that
appears at the right side of the table, and the
2 identified nodes are inserted in the table

1
The table's items can be sorted according to each of
3 the columns by pressing the left mouse button on the
name of the column. An arrow next to the sorting
column indicates the sorting order.
3. Press with left mouse button the name of the
second column Max :: C1 to sort the items (nodes)
according to their maximum function value.

Table’s items can be identified or isolated.

4. Select the first item (node with maximum function
value) of the table with Right Mouse Button.
4 5 5. From the menu that appears select the Identify
option.

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Now only the node with the maximum function value is

identified on the model.

By pressing the button a file manager window opens and

you can export the information of the Statistics table and
save it in HTML or .csv format.

Tips:
To reset the identification of entities select the iReset option
from the Identify menu or press the iReset button

From Tools>States open the States card. In the Undeform

tab double-click on the light bulb in order to deactivate the
visibility of the undeform state.

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2.9. Annotations

Annotations are a comprehensive tool for adding text, marking

positions and results into a drawing or a 2Dplot window.
1
1. Open the Annotations tool by pressing the Annotations button
2. In the Pointer tab select the Element option to create
annotations on elements.
3. Press the Adv.Filter button to use the Advanced Filter tool to
select the elements on which annotations will be created

In the Advanced Filter window select to:

2 4. add
5. Elements
6. Scalar > centroid.func.scalar.max
7. from Each Part Max 1 (In the last field of the Advanced Filter
tool the available options from the pull-down menu can be edited)

8. Press Ok in the Advanced Filter window.

3

4 5 6 7

Using this filter one annotation for every part is created that points
to the element with the maximum function value of its part.

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1. Select from the list both annotations.

2. In the Position tab of the Annotations window press the Follow

button.
1

The annotations now are attached on the elements that they point
to.

3. Select the two annotations in the list of the Annotations window

with Right Mouse Button and from the menu that appears select
the Explode Off Model

3
4. Switch to the Text tab and change the Float Precision to 0.

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he annotations now have been exploded out of the model, and the
displayed value has no decimal digits.

3. In the Text tab of the Annotations window set the desired text
and press Apply.
4. Change the Fonts of the text.
5. Enable the Value Based Coloring

The annotations now are colored regarding the value that they
display.

TIPS
Deselect the annotations from the list to hide their highlighting.

It is also possible to create an annotation on a part that will trace a

value of the part.

1. Delete the two annotations that were created in the previous step
from the List and press the New button to create a new one.

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2. From the Pointer tab select the Part option.

3. From the Function pull-down menu select the Scalar Elem Max
Val option.
2 4. Press the Pick button and select for which part of the model you
want to trace the maximum with the new annotation.
3

Change the text and the fonts of the new annotation from the Text
tab.

5. Press Right Mouse Button in the annotations text field and from
the menu that appears select to add the Model > Subcase
5 variable. The variable $subcase will be entered into the text.
6. Press Apply button.

The new annotation finds the maximum value of the selected part,
displays this value, the id of the element that holds this value and
the subcase id.

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Go to subcase 7.

The annotation finds again the maximum value of the selected part
and points to the element that holds this value.

Delete the new annotation from List and reset the identification
from the iReset button.

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2.10. Append Results - Scalar and Vector results simultaneously

There is the option to load different results under the same subcase using the append results functionality

1. In the Read Results>Results>Vector tab select the

Stresses > Principal Tensor> Bottom results to be loaded.
2. Deactivate Deformation and Scalar options in order not to
load again Deformation and Scalar results and press the
Append button next to the Vector option.
1 3. Press Read button to load the results.

2
3

4. Press on the Vector Finge button.

5. Press on the arrow next to the button and set the Vector
Scale to 0.1
4 5

These new results are added under the already loaded subcases as new Labels.
You can see the active Label in the Labels switcher pull-down menu.

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2.11. Report
User reports in HTML, PPTX or postscript format can be created through the Report Composer. The HTML reports are
template-based and these templates could also be created inside the Report Composer using the existing editor.

Open the Report Composer from Tools>Report>Report Composer.

Select the PPTX option at the top left corner of the Report Composer
window.

You can add images in the report using the Drag and Drop
functionality.
1 1. With Left Mouse Button pressed drag an image from the 3D drawing
window into the Report Composer.

An image of the model is inserted in the Report Composer

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You have the option to edit the image in the Report Composer.
1. Press and hold the Shift key. Move the edges of the image to crop it.
2. Let the Shift key free. Resize and move the image on the top left
corner of the slide.

Spreadsheet tables can be added in the Report.

3. First open the Statistics from Tools>Statistics.
4
4. Press on the button to set which columns arew visible.
5. Select some of the nodes’ data that were previously inserted in the
5 Statistics table, with Left Mouse button.

6. Press Right Mouse Button on the selected items. From the menu
that appears select to Copy selected to clipboard.

7. In the Report Composer right click on the slide and select

Clipboard > Paste Text from Clipbload (spreadsheet)
8. Select the cell where you want to paste the data from the Statistics
table with Right Mouse Button and from the menu that appears select
the Paste option.
A Spreadsheet table is added in the current Slide of the report.

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1. Select from the Slides list the Slide 1 with Right Mouse Button.
2. From the menu that appears select the Set Title option

1
2

3. In the Text Editor window that appears write the desired title and set
it’s style.
4. Press OK

The title has been inserted in the Slide. You can move it and resize it
using Left Mouse Button.

The Report can be saved in pptx format from the Save button.
pptx Reports can be opened in Report Composer again from the
Open button.

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2.12. Model Report

A standard report including information about the model can be created through the Model Report. This report may comprise
(depending upon the user’s selections) a table of contents, screenshots of the model and plots, as well as a tabular summary of
the model entities and results

Invoke the Model Report card from Tools>Report>Model Report.

1. Select the subcases to include in the Model Report.

2. Select the groups to include in the Model Report.
2
3. From the Parts/Elements/Materials/Boundary Elements tabs
1 select the entities to include in the Model Report.

4. From the Results tab select the results

(Displacements/Function/Nodal-Corner Function) to include in the
4 Model Report

Press the HTML Preview button to have a

preview of the Model Report in HTML format.

The Model Report can be saved in HTML and CSV formats and can
also be added in a user report (HTML format) from the respective
Add to Report button.

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3. Conclusion

In this tutorial some of the basic steps for static analysis post processing have been followed. Not all capabilities were
demonstrated. The user may also refer to META User’s Guide for the functionality of META and detailed description of functions
and procedures.

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