I have a finished the structural design for a fuselage here. I first created it using isotropic properties, but I want more accurate FEA results so I have changed everything to orthotropic and used the origin planes as the reference geometry. The point of this is to specify the grain direction for the materials, correct? But let's say I want the grain of the very first plywood former to run left to right, that is, along the X axis in my case. If I select the front plane, what is differentiating left to right from top to bottom? Is the fact that planes runs along their respective axes enough for SW to understand my intentions?

In the attached files I have both the isotropic and orthotropic versions. I customized the appearance of the applied materials and also changed the appearance mapping so the displayed grain is accurate. I am just unsure that SW knows exactly what grain direction I am looking for, simply based on one reference plane. I want to be sure that all my reference geometry is correct so that I can be certain these results display what I am looking for. 1/2" deflection at the tail is more than I'd like.

Also because I have curved geometry, does SW apply the material properties correctly along this curvature? Or does it apply the material along the reference plane that I selected, thereby having that plane and infinitely more parallel planes running through the body and making that intersection path the grain of the wood)?

Isotropic

'

Orthotropic

Thanks,

Brandon