Membrane sections are used to represent thin surfaces in space that offer strength in the plane of the section but have no bending stiffness. An example of a membrane is the thin rubber sheet that forms a balloon. Membrane sections are similar to shell sections. Like shells, membranes are applied to surfaces that have no geometric thickness. However, unlike shells, membrane sections do not allow for varying thicknesses or provide options for section integration. Instead, membrane sections include a single, uniform thickness assignment for the surface geometry and a Poisson's ratio to determine the thickness behavior under strain. | ||||||||||