Defining Connection Plasticity

You can define plasticity behavior for the available components of relative motion. For more information, see Connector Plastic Behavior.

You can use an uncoupled plasticity formulation to define separate isotropic hardening data tables for one or more of the available components of relative motion.

You can use a coupled plasticity formulation to define the behavior with one or more force potential terms. For more information on coupled behavior, see Connector Functions for Coupled Behavior.

This task shows you how to:

Before you begin:
  • Create a new connection or edit an existing connection. To create a connection, see Defining Connectors.
  • In the connection dialog box, click to open the Behaviors editor.
  • In the left pane of the Behaviors, select Plasticity.
See Also
About Connectors
Defining Connectors
Defining Derived Components

Define Uncoupled Plasticity

  1. From the Force/Moment options, select Fx, Fy, Fz, Mx, My, Mz to define plasticity in one or more degrees of freedom.
  2. For each component selected above, enter the Isotropic Hardening data in the table.
  3. From the Extrapolation options, select one of the following to define how the app handles any data that falls outside the specified range:
    OptionDescription
    Constant Uses the value equal to the nearest end point of the specified data.
    Linear Uses linear interpolation based on the slope of the curve at each end point.

Define Coupled Plasticity

  1. To define a potential, click .

    For more information on potential functions, see Defining Connector Potentials.

  2. From the Operator options, choose one of the following:
    OptionDescription
    Sum Defines the potential as the sum of the contributions.
    Maximum Defines the potential as the contribution that yields the maximum value.
  3. Enter the Isotropic Hardening data in the table.
  4. From the Extrapolation options, select one of the following to define how the app handles any data that falls outside the specified range:
    OptionDescription
    Constant Uses the value equal to the nearest end point of the specified data.
    Linear Uses linear interpolation based on the slope of the curve at each end point.
  5. Optional: Select Specify Component, and choose components of relative motion or derived components to include them in the potential contribution.
  6. Optional: Enter the Scale factor and Exponent by which each contributes to the potential.