Creating Slots and Collars

You can create slots and collars on panels, plates, and stiffeners for the free passage of stiffeners. A set of standard slots is defined in the slot table assigned in Data Setup.

Before you begin: Open a structure to create the slots and collars. The structure must contain penetrated elements (panels, plates, or stiffeners) and penetrating elements (stiffeners).
See Also
About Slots and Collars
Editing and Deleting Slots
Managing Slots and Collars
In Other Guides
Content for Structure Apps
  1. From the Detail section of the action bar, click Slot .
    The Slot panel appears.
  2. In the Penetrated Element box, select a panel, a plate, or a stiffener.

    You can select multiple penetrated elements.

  3. In the Penetrating Element box, select a stiffener.

    You can select multiple stiffeners.

    New rows are added for all intersections and the selected elements appear in the Penetrated Element and Penetrating Element columns.
  4. Select the rows and click Define/Edit Slot .
  5. In the Define Feature and Parameters dialog box, define the slots:
    1. In the Type list, select the slot type.
    2. In the Name list, select the required slot.

      The name of the slot section depends on the selected slot type.

      If no Resources Catalog or Resources Library resource is set in Data Setup, the Type list becomes unavailable and you can click More... in the Name list:

      • To select the required slot reference from the catalog or library, if the Structure Reference Catalog or the Structure Reference Library resource is set in Data Setup.
      • To search the required slot reference in the database, if no Structure Reference Catalog or Structure Reference Library resource is set in Data Setup.

    3. Optional: Keep the Linked to reference check box selected so as to link the instantiated slot with its slot reference.

      By default, this check box is selected when the slot is defined as linkable in the slot table.

    4. Select the forming mode from the list.
    5. Click Apply.
      The slot parameters are displayed under Slot. The bitmap image of the slot appears next to the parameters. If the selected slot type has a collar, the collar parameters are displayed under Collar.
      Important:
      • If the selected slot section does not contain any collar, the collar area becomes unavailable.
      • You cannot change the parameters for slot and collar, after clicking Apply.
    6. Optional: If the selected slot type has a collar, specify the material and orientation for the collar.
    7. Click OK.
    The slots and collars are created. The defined slot, forming mode, and status of the created slot are displayed in the Slot panel.
    Note: The Structure Design app creates the collar as a surface or an axis, as defined in the collar parameters. You can:
    • Use the surface as a support for creating physical collar objects.
    • Use the axis to position the already created physical collar objects.
    Slots with collars

    Slots without collars

    Slots on stiffeners

    Here the deck transverse stiffener is penetrating the deck longitudinal stiffeners.



  6. Close the Slot panel.

Important:
  • In Structure Functional Design, if you created the slot by selecting the Link with reference check box, then the slot created using the Split by Volume command in Structure Design will also be linked with slot reference.
  • After the slot creation, if the stiffener is modified and the corresponding slot is not valid to the modified profile, the status of such slot becomes Invalid. You can either modify or delete the slot.
  • The slot becomes invalid when:
    • The penetrating element is deleted.
    • There is no intersection between the penetrated and penetrating elements.
  • The slot and collar on a panel take into account the thickness of the panel, not of the split plate.