### 14.3.3. Interactions - Euler/Lagrange (3D) - Thickness

As well as being able to couple volume element solvers, it is also possible in Autodyn to couple shell solvers. For a shell solver, the parts do not have any geometric through thickness dimension, and as such cannot cover any volume in the Euler mesh. Therefore, you need to artificially thicken each shell part.

Select Part

  This list contains all the shell parts in the model that are selected for coupling with Euler. If you select a part, the coupling thickness and direction of the thickening for that part is shown below.

Coupling Thickness

  This shows the coupling thickness for the selected part. To modify the coupling thickness, enter the new value, and click the Apply button. For the coupling methodology to function correctly, the artificial thickness of a shell must be at least twice the dimension of the largest cell size in the surrounding Euler grid.

Direction

  This shows the direction the shell is thickened in for the selected part. To modify the thickening direction, select the desired direction, and click the Apply button.

  The coupling thickness can be applied on both sides of the midplane of the shell (Centered) or applied to one side of the shell, where Positive is in the direction of the normal of the shell.

Review

  If you select the review button, an HTML summary is opened that displays which shell parts have been included in the Euler coupling, the thickness and direction for these shell parts, and also the thickened shell joined matrix.

  You can also view the thickened shells by switching on "Shell thickness" in the Plots panel, and choosing "Artificial Shell Coupling Thickness" in the Shell Thickness Settings panel.

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