3.3.10: Generate Cross Section Table

An entry in a cross section table consists of a row which contains:

  • "country": country of origin

  • “family”: name of the group to which the cross section belongs (see section 3.3.1)

  • “name”: name of the specific cross section (see section 3.3.1)

  • a “shape” field which defines the basic cross section type:

    • “I”: I-section

    • “[]”: hollow box section

    • “V”: trapezoid, filled section

    • “O”: circular tube

    • "S”: spring

    • “Sh”: shell

  • geometric properties which are used for drawing the cross section

  • area, moments of inertia, etc. that define the cross section's mechanical behavior. Can be independently defined from the cross section geometry

A “#” in the first column means that the corresponding row serves as a comment.

The “GenCSTable”-component takes a cross section (or a list of cross sections) as input and returns the equivalent table of data as a string. The physical units used for output are always metric. When plugged into a panel the information can be streamed to a file which then constitutes a valid cross section table. Karamba3D reads the data of cross section tables only once. So in order that changes in a table take effect, restart Grasshopper.

It is possible to save the table data in different formats via the component's context menu (right-click on the component icon to make it appear). The menu item "Save cross section table to file" leads to a "save"- dialog where the drop down list "Save as type" allows to select between bin-, dat- and csv-format. The binary format (.bin) is recommended for large tables since it loads fast. However bin-files are not readable in text editors.

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