Mechanical APDL Basic Analysis Guide

The PLESOL command produce contour lines that are discontinuous across element boundaries. Use
this type of display mainly for derived solution data. For example:

PLESOL,TG,X

Figure 7.3: A Sample PLESOL Plot Showing Discontinuous Contours

The PLETAB command contours data stored in the element table. The Avglab field on the PLETAB
command gives you the option of averaging the data at nodes (for continuous contours) or not averaging
(the default, for having discontinuous contours). The example below assumes a layered shell (SHELL281)
model and shows the difference between averaged and nonaveraged results.

ETABLE,SHEARXZ,SMISC,9! Interlaminar shear (ILSXZ) at bottom of layer 2

PLETAB,SHEARXZ,AVG! Averaged contour plot of SHEARXZ

Figure 7.4: Averaged PLETAB Contours

PLETAB,SHEARXZ,NOAVG! Unaveraged (default) contour plot of SHEARXZ

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Reviewing Results in POST1