Ribbed Dome

[arkonaft]

Is there a way to create a ribbed dome model in Robot? How can I make it faster and easier?
Thx a lot)

[Rafacascudo]

any pics, drawings?

[bauskas]

Modeling all geometry in a DXF-capable editor and then importing it into Robot will basically allow for any form, ribbed or not.

[arkonaft]

Looks like this: http://www.geodesics-unlimited.com/i...ibbed_dome.gif
But has only two 4 circles (ground, upper, and two in the middle).
I can't figure out how to put force on the arc element.. neither find any tutorials about working with arc elements.

[bauskas]

This kind of meshing if used by junior engineers often leads to bad resulting model, with thin triangular elements all meeting at the summit.
I once saw a sci paper that had been fully based on a misunderstanding about how ANSYS actually creates an axisymmetric mesh.

Now how about this one? Orthogonal shell:

[Rafacascudo]

Looks like this: http://www.geodesics-unlimited.com/i...ibbed_dome.gif
But has only two 4 circles (ground, upper, and two in the middle).
I can't figure out how to put force on the arc element.. neither find any tutorials about working with arc elements.

Just model one slice , with all the vertical load cases and then use the "Rotate",copying this slice around the central dome axis.It should be done very fast