Error 1203 in CBEAM

Altair Forum User

Hi guys, I am trying to build a schematic suspension following the guide lines given by my professor. He told me to create a sort of McPherson susp made by three CBEAM and three rigids with zero length (used to realize three spherical joints).

So, I built all the suspension, but, when I run the simulation, Hypermesh gives me this message error:

*** ERROR # 1203 *** in the input data:

Vector defined in fields 6 - 8 has zero length.

Detected while reading line 115952 from file

C:/Users/[...]/CHASSIS_POINTS_03.fem:

'CBEAM 120405 2 117995 1179960.0 0.0 0.0'

*** ERROR # 1203 *** in the input data:

Vector defined in fields 6 - 8 has zero length.

Detected while reading line 115953 from file

C:/Users/[...]/CHASSIS_POINTS_03.fem:

'CBEAM 120406 2 117995 1179970.0 0.0 0.0'

*** ERROR # 1203 *** in the input data:

Vector defined in fields 6 - 8 has zero length.

Detected while reading line 115954 from file

C:/Users/[...]/CHASSIS_POINTS_03.fem:

'CBEAM 120407 2 117994 1108380.0 0.0 0.0'

Where do I fail?

Altair Forum User

The problem is likely the three 0.0 value fields in the CBEAM definition (these are fields 6 to 8 on that card). These are the vector used to define the cross-section orientation of your beam elements. Any vector that isn't oriented along the beam axis will do, but if you have a non-circular beam cross section, this determines how the section is rotated.