The script takes the nodes of a four-node shell element and calculates the cross vectors between the coordinate points, forming two vectors in the x-y plane. The length of the cross product vector is calculated to determine the area of the shell element.

ShellArea function takes one input argument:
– Shell – user selected shell element/object in PRIMER

Function prints the value of the area to the dialogue box.

In this example, the user is prompted to select a shell element from the PRIMER graphics area. The calculated area and shell ID number are printed to the dialogue panel.