In this example we will model a circular tank structure as the one shown below:
- Start by creating 5 concentric circles that define the tank structure. Set a Top View on the workplane.
- To make the structural element creation easier, draw two lines between the center of the circles and the extremities of a line segment contained in the circle.
- For easier generation of the tank walls, create a system in the Pilot, named, for example, Tank walls. Activate the "Level" option and enter the Ztop value: 4.00 m.
- Use the "Create a vertical planar element by 2 points" command to create a planar element on top of a circle segment.
- Create a planar element for the horizontal bottom part of the tank.
The circles serve as guidelines for generating the structural elements. The circles must have the following diameters:
- 0.93 m
- 2.1 m
- 12.5 m
- 15.25 m
- 15.5 m
The circles are defined by the center of the circle, the circle radius and the number of straight segments that form a full circle.- 2.1 m
- 12.5 m
- 15.25 m
- 15.5 m
- To create the angled part of the tank bottom, move the circles that define the center area down. The circle with a radius of 2.1 m must be moved down to 1.4 m and the circle with a radius of 0.93 m radius must be moved down to 3.4 m.
- Create the planar elements of the angled bottom part of the tank.
- Copy by rotation the structural elements that you have created. To do this, it is necessary to specify the following:
- The origin point (the center of the concentric circles)
- The rotation axis (the Z-axis in this case)
- The angle (between the two radii starting from the extremities of the same linear segment, in this case 12°)
- The number of copies, being the same with the number of segments that describe the circle, minus one segment which is the copy origin object (29 copies in this case, the circle summing up to 30 segments with the copy origin)
After copying all the elements, the circular tank is created. At the end, you can delete the guidelines and circles.
