'elty' <set> 'be2'|'be2d'|'be3'|'tr3'|'tr3u'|'tr3e'|'tr3s'|-> 'tr3c'|'tr6'|'tr6e'|'tr6s'|'tr6c'|'qu4'|'qu4e'|-> 'qu4s'|'qu4c'|'qu8'|'qu8e'|'qu8s'|'qu8c'|'he8'|-> 'he8f'|'he8i'|'he8r'|'he20'|'he20r'This keyword is used to assign a specific element type to a set of entities (see section Element Types in the appendix). The element name is composed of the following parts: The leading two letters define the shape (be: beam, tr: triangle, qu: quadrangle, he: hexahedra), then the number of nodes and at last an attribute describing the mathematical formulation or other features (c: axisymmetric, e: plain strain, s: plain stress, u: unstructured mesh, r: reduced integration, i: incompatible modes, f: fluid element for ccx). If the element type is omitted, the assignment is deleted. If all parameters are omitted, the actual assignments are posted:
Be aware of the command ``mids'' to remove or include mid-side nodes of elements. Especially if you use the unstructured element-type tr3u. In this case you might change the linear triangles to tr6 elements with this command.