About Shell Properties
If you want shells that are not homogeneous or shells that are comprised of several layers, or plies, you must create shell properties for your model.
You can assign shell properties to the following geometric entities, depending on the model type:
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Model Type
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Entity
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|---|---|
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3D
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surface (applies the shell property to shell elements)
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2D Plane Stress
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surface (applies the shell property to 2D plate elements)
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2D Plane Strain
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curve (applies the shell property to 2D shell elements)
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2D Axisymmetric
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curve (applies the shell property to 2D shell elements)
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You can assign a shell property (its thickness and laminate matrices) to a face, region, or datum surface. You can also define a shell property that will reside in the shell property library, but is not assigned to a particular entity. The shell property library file is named mshlprp.lib.
Click Refine Model and then click the arrow next to 
Shell. Click 
Shell Properties to open the Shell Properties dialog box. You use this dialog box to define the properties of a shell as you define the shell, or you can define a shell property and save it in the library.
Shell. Click Shell Properties to open the Shell Properties dialog box. You use this dialog box to define the properties of a shell as you define the shell, or you can define a shell property and save it in the library.Before you define shell properties, see Guidelines for Using Shell Properties. To learn more about shell properties, see Shell Thickness.
You can define three types of shell properties—homogeneous, laminate layup, and laminate stiffness.