Co Ordinate Systems

Co-ordinate systems_demo
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As a user of Scia Engineer you will come across a set of various co-ordinate systems. Some co-ordinate systems are
essential for the work with the program itself, others may significantly reduce the effort and time necessary to get the
required result.
The co-ordinate systems may be divided into several groups according to what they relate to:
Global co-ordinate system: the essential co-ordinate system, provides for the positioning and orienting of a model and
its unambiguous definition
User-defined co-ordinate systems: facilitates the model definition, the user may define its origin and direction
Point definition co-ordinate systems; geometry definition co-ordinate systems: Provides for the definition of
geometry in the most straightforward way
Entity co-ordinate systems, local co-ordinate system: Defines the orientation of individual entities in a model and
provides for the unambiguous interpretation of physical quantities related to the entity.
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The following abbreviations are used:

Global co-ordinate system: GCS
User-defined co-ordinate system: UCS
Local co-ordinate system: LCS
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The global co-ordinate system (GCS) used in the program is a three-dimensional right-handed Cartesian co-ordinate
system.
The axes of the system are marked X, Y, and Z.
Note: It is highly recommended to locate the created model of a structure close to the
origin of the global co-ordinate system (i.e. near the point whose global co-ordinates are
0, 0, 0) in order to prevent possible numerical inaccuracy due to numerical operations
carried out with excessively great numbers.
Note: It is highly recommended to locate the created model of a structure close to the origin of the
global co-ordinate system (i.e. near the point whose global co-ordinates are 0, 0, 0) in order to prevent possible
numerical inaccuracy due to numerical operations carried out with excessively great numbers.
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The user-defined co-ordinate system (UCS)
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In order to simplify and speed up work with a model, the user can define its own co-ordinate system or systems and locate
their origin, including possible inclination, anywhere in the global co-ordinate system.
The user-defined co-ordinate system is a three-dimensional right-handed Cartesian co-ordinate system.
The axes of the system are marked X, Y, and Z.
The user co-ordinate system may be set arbitrarily and the setting can be changed during work as many times as
required. In addition, any number of user co-ordinate systems may be defined simultaneously but just one of them can be
active at a time. The user can swap between the previously and also newly defined user co-ordinate systems whenever it
seems to be convenient.
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An existing user co-ordinate system may be edited and thus its origin or direction of axes or both may be altered. In
general, there are two ways to modify an existing UCS: type values of UCS parameters into the editing dialogue of the
UCS or
apply one of many modifying functions collected in
submenu UCS (opened from menu Tools > UCS)
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Select the option Move.

On that way the UCS will be replaced.
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Select the node at the bottom of the right column
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It's also possible to place the UCS equal to the LCS of a member, this with 'according to entity LCS'
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Select the option According to entity LCS
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The beam rafter is selected
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And the UCS is now according to the LCS of the rafter
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Next, we will explain the use of the entity co-ordinate systems (LCS)
Each structural entity, that means each member, has got its own local co-ordinate system. This co-ordinate system is a
three-dimensional right-handed Cartesian co-ordinate system.
The system provides for:
1)
unambiguous positioning of the member in space,
2) unambiguous definition of load and boundary conditions,
3) unambiguous interpretation of results.
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The LCS of this column will be displayed

This can be done by means of the View parameters for selected elements.
Click on the right mouse button to generate this action.
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Select the checkbox for the local axes of members

1D
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Click OK
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Press Esc key to deselect the member
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The Beam co-ordinate system:
The beam co-ordinate system is a three-dimensional right-handed Cartesian co-ordinate

system with axes marked x, y, and z.
Each 1D member is defined by means of two end points - by a "starting point" and by an
"end point". Each 1D member has got a unique local co-ordinate system, the origin of
which is located in the starting point of a 1D member. The x-axis is always identical with
the longitudinal beam axis and its direction is from the staring point towards the end
point. By default, the y-axis is generally horizontal (unless the beam orientation prevents
this) and the z-axis is generally vertical (again, unless the beam orientation in space
prevents this configuration).
The local co-ordinate system can be rotated around its x-axis if required.
In addition to this local co-ordinate system, also a principal (or main) co-ordinate system
can be referred to on a 1D member. The principal co-ordinate system of a 1D member is
related to the principal co-ordinate system of the cross-section of a 1D member.
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The same can be done for the rafter element
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1D
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Click OK
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Press Esc to deselect the rafter beam
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The LCS can be rotated around the x-axis. For this, we have to go to the properties of the beam element.
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The local y-and z-axes can be changed by means of these options
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Press Esc to deselect
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Also the local axes of 2D elements can be shown
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2D
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Click OK
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The orientation of the local Z axis of the slab may be easily turned around. The following checkbox in the property menu
of the plate does it
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And it's unchecked again to have the standard orientation
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Press Esc to deselect the plate
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The local axes of the mesh elements can also be displayed.

First of all, the mesh has to be generated
Click on the button for the mesh generation
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Click OK
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To display the mesh, click on the right mouse button
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Select the Draw mesh item
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Select also the item for the local axes of mesh

elements
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Click OK
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A zoom is taken to view the local axis of one of the mesh elements
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Another application of entity co-ordinate systems is the cross-section co-ordinate system
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Go to Libraries > Crosssections
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There are several co-ordinate systems used with cross sections. All the sectional co-ordinate systems are twodimensional right-handed Cartesian co-ordinate systems.
Principal (or main) axes
The principal axes correspond to the principal moments of inertia of a cross-section. The y axis is called a major axis and
the z axis is called a minor axis.
The principal axes are used to evaluate important sectional characteristics necessary for design and assessment to
technical standards (code check), e.g. moments of inertia, radiuses of gyration, etc.
Centroidal axes
The two centroidal axes pass the centroid of a cross-section and the first moments (the static moments) of the crosssection around these axes are equal to zero.
The centroidal axes are used to evaluate important sectional characteristics necessary for design and assessment to
technical standards (code check), e.g. moments of inertia, radiuses of gyration, section modulus, etc.
For symmetrical cross-sections, the centroidal axes are identical to the principal axes.
For example, for steel cross-sections the centroidal y axis is parallel to the flanges and the centroidal z axis is
perpendicular to the flanges.
Geometric co-ordinate system
The geometric axes are used to define co-ordinates of cross-section vertices. The axes of the system are marked y and z.
Orientation of the cross-section co-ordinate system with reference to the beam local co-ordinate system
A cross-section is oriented so that the centroidal axis y
is identical with beam local axis Y and the centroidal
axis z is identical with beam local axis Z. If the 1D
member is being rotated around its local X axis, also the
sectional centroidal
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Click the Close button
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Also nodes have their local co-ordinate systems.
Select the node at the bottom of the left column
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To view the LCS of the node, go to the view parameters by means of clicking on the right mouse button
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And select the checkbox for the local axes of the node
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Click OK
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Co Ordinate Systems

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Co-ordinate systems_demo

The following abbreviations are used:

The user-defined co-ordinate system (UCS)

Select the option Move.

Select the node at the bottom of the right column

Select the option According to entity LCS

The beam rafter is selected

And the UCS is now according to the LCS of the rafter

The LCS of this column will be displayed

Select the checkbox for the local axes of members

Press Esc key to deselect the member

The Beam co-ordinate system:

The beam co-ordinate system is a three-dimensional right-handed Cartesian co-ordinate

The same can be done for the rafter element

Select the checkbox for the local axes of members

Press Esc to deselect the rafter beam

The local y-and z-axes can be changed by means of these options

Press Esc to deselect

Also the local axes of 2D elements can be shown

Select the checkbox for the local axes of members

of the plate does it

And it's unchecked again to have the standard orientation

Press Esc to deselect the plate

The local axes of the mesh elements can also be displayed.

To display the mesh, click on the right mouse button

Select the Draw mesh item

Select also the item for the local axes of mesh

Another application of entity co-ordinate systems is the cross-section co-ordinate system

Go to Libraries > Crosssections

Click the Close button

Also nodes have their local co-ordinate systems.

Select the node at the bottom of the left column

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