Advanced Stacking Sequence Entry

The system can mimic traditional stacking sequence notation, including the ability to define repeating patterns,and nested groups. The basic entry is a list of angles, . The list starts at the most negative z coordinate. Note that the curly brackets are required. Commas must be used to separate angles; the slash (/) notation used in many textbooks is not accepted.

Most engineering laminates are symmetric. A symmetric can be created by using the operator //sym, as in {0,90}//sym

Another common feature is to repeat a layer m times. This can be accomplished by the repeat[m] operator. For example, {0, 90//repeat[4]} yields

repeat[m] can also be applied to a set of curly brackets

Operators can also be combined

Operators can be nested in any fashion so long as the curly brackets are balanced

The code applies the default ply thickness to each layer. If any layers are a different thickness, the operator //plyThickness[h] can be applied. Assume that the default thickness is 0.005, but a 90 degree layer has the thickness of 0.01. The notation is

	Angle	material	Ply Thick
1	45	1	0.005`
2		1	0.005`
3	0	1	0.005`
4	90	1	0.01`

The plyThickness operator can also be applied to groups within curly brackets. The above table indicates that all of the layers of of the default material number 1. Hybrid laminates can be entered, but the current web version of the analyses code cannot handle hybrids.