Add Anisotropic Surface

An Anisotropic Surface allows you to define the direction of anisotropy for anisotropic materials such as folded bedding, by defining a polyline which follows the direction of anisotropy.

To add an Anisotropic Surface to your model:

1. Select Add Anisotropic Surface from the toolbar or the Boundaries menu.
2. Enter the vertices of the surface as described in Entering Coordinates.
3. When all vertices are entered, right-click and select Done, or press Enter with nothing in the prompt line.

After adding an anisotropic surface, you must assign the surface to an anisotropic material in the Define Material Properties dialog, using either the Anisotropic Linear strength model or the Snowden Modified Anisotropic Linear strength model as the Failure Criterion.

Location of Anisotropic Surface

The exact location of the anisotropic surface is not critical, however it should be placed such that it best represents the average orientation of the bedding throughout the material.

Typically an Anisotropic Surface is defined near the "middle" of the corresponding anisotropic material region, as shown in the above figure; or it could be coincident with one of the material boundaries (e.g. either the upper or lower boundary of the anisotropic material). See the Anisotropic Surface Overview topic for illustration.