ANSYS - section nodes and global nodes

student@work

I am creating a 3D mesh for beam188 elements (L sections).

Method - create keypoints, create lines between KP, define section, apply all relevant properties to the line and mesh the line.

When I view the mesh (/ESHAPE,1) it appears as you would expect with an extruded L-shaped 3D brick-structure (blue solid 'bricks' with corners - I assumed each 'corner' would be a node but this does not seem to be true?)

When I plot nodes, the only nodes that appear are at the ends of the element (ie where I created by original KP)

I CAN however view nodes across the section of the beam by
PREPROCESSOR >> SECTIONS >> BEAM >> PLOT SECTIONS then pick "Node Numbers" from the "Show section mesh?" dropdown. This shows a x-y plot of the beam's cross-section with the nodes and areas.

Can anyone explain, can I view these "Section Nodes" in my global model??

And can I use these section nodes in my global model (to lock elements together)?

Thanks in advance for any info

(If it is not too clear I can explain why I want to do this but tried to keep it as brief as possible)

student@work

I got an answer from another forum, in case anyone has the same issue this was the response I got

"Beam188 elements are actually 1D elements. When you plot nodes, that is why you are only seeing them at the ends of the element.

If you want a 3D mesh in the sense that you are physically able to connect other meshed elements to particular locations of your L section, you are going to have to go to higher order elements (plates, solids).

For more information on the theory behind your particular beam element, I'd recommend reading the accompanying user's or reference guide."

nvn

student@work: How many beam188 elements do you get on each line? If it is one element per line, do you want more than one per line? This might not help (I might have some syntax wrong, depending on version), but just in case.

As you mentioned in post 2, there is one node at the ends of each beam element.