Brick attributes

Strand7 brick elements support the following attributes:

	Pre-stress or pre-strain may be assigned in local x, y and z-axes.
	Surface pressure may be assigned normal to the brick surface, in the global coordinate system and in a user-defined coordinate system. For pressure that is aligned with a global or user-defined system, the Act on Projected Area attribute provides a convenient way of applying the pressure over the projection of the brick face, onto the relevant plane.
	Shear stress over the surface of a brick may be applied in the local axes directions.
	Elastic supports may be assigned to the surface of brick elements. These provide a means of modelling brick elements sitting on elastic foundations or semi-infinite spaces. For nonlinear analysis, the Compression only option may be used.
	Thermal flux may be applied to any surface of a brick, for use in heat transfer analysis.
	Convection and radiation coefficients are used in heat transfer analysis for exchanging heat between the surface of the brick and an external source. In nonlinear heat transfer analysis, the coefficients may be a function of temperature. The ambient temperature of the external source may be a function of time in transient heat analysis.
	Heat source attributes provide a mechanism for the generation of thermal energy within the brick element. For steady heat analysis, the heat source is constant. For transient heat analysis, the heat source may be a function of time. In nonlinear heat transfer analysis, the heat source may be a function of temperature.