Does anyone know a quick and easy way to import values into CAESAR. I have about 8 different displacement cases for 5 nodes (total of 240 values) and was hoping there was an easier way than to input each value by hand. It seems CAESAR uses some sort of EXCEL type spreadsheet but it won't let you copy and paste in values.

Thanks Everyone!

Its not an EXCEL spreadsheet, it is a "grid" tool. The reason you can't "paste" in most places is because of the inter-relations between the data on different grids. Foul that up and you corrupt the model - hence we don't let you "paste" in most places.

There is a (new) import feature that may help you. This is a "work in progress" but it may help you out. From the Piping Input Processor, pull down the "Tools" menu and select "Import Displacements from File". This feature has not been "officially documented", so you'll need to correspond with xlu@coade.com for details and instructions.

Thank you very much for the quick response Richard.

I've just tried out the tool and unfortunately it's not QUITE to the point where it's easy to discern where to put the values. The file you can export, a .csv file, is rather muddled, making it difficult to easily use. I will try to discuss the matter with the person whose email address you listed in hopes they may be able to help me figure this out.

I definitely think this should be a feature in the next version of CAESAR, as it would definitely save some time on larger models that have many nodes with many displacements.

Thank you once again for the help.

Sincerely,

Jacob Bell
AEC Engineering

Has anyone actually managed to get this function to work?

I was just trying to sort out how this feature works, and came up with the following list of issues to be aware of when trying to use it:

when exporting, if a displacement node is listed, then it'll export BOTH Node1 and Node2. If Node2 is blank, it'll use the node number from Node1 in Node2 in the CSV export. This screws things up when re-importing from the CSV file, since the second blank displacement set will overwrite the first displacement set. You need to manually delete the second dummy set on each node.

Second, it can't import on a cnode, it must be a geometry node, so make sure you correct all node number references in the CSV to point to geometry nodes. You'll have to fix the node numbers from within the calc after import

Third, it doesn't seem to read the configuration unit files correctly, and automatically includes a 25.4 conversion factor on the second row of the CSV. adjust the conversion factor as req'd to get the proper values after import.

Fourth, exporting will dump DX1 to DX1, DY1 to DY1, DZ1 to DZ1, etc. as it is in the calc originally. However, on import, Caesar seems to assume that the .disp file is written with Y axis 'up'. If your exported displacements came from a file where Z axis is 'up', then they will be rotated about the X axis upon import. If your source and destination calc are both "Z up" calcs, then you'll need to pre-rotate the displacements counterclockwise about the X axis for them to import correctly.

So long as you take all of that into account, I've managed to get them importing correctly.

Regards,
Gerrit Kirkwood
KBR