Detecting Line Fastener Locations and Applying Line Fasteners

You can search the model or a subset of the geometry for potential line fastener locations. You can define the fastener properties to apply at locations chosen from the search results.

Line fastener features use the properties specified when you create them. If you change a property in the Line Fastener Detection dialog box, your changes apply only to newly detected fastener locations. You must edit previously detected fasteners to change their properties.

Important: You cannot detect fastener locations for polyhedral geometry.

See Also
About Line Fasteners
Connections Section
Connection Manager
About Engineering Connections in Simulations
In Other Guides
Creating Simulation Features
Support Selection
  1. From the Connections section of the action bar, click Line Fastener Detection .
  2. Choose the Search domain using one of the following methods:
    • From the 3D area or the tree, select the entities directly.
    • From the context menu, select one of the following options:
      Option Description:
      All 3D part bodies Includes the main PartBody in the search domain, including all 3D geometry. This is the default search domain.
      Meshed supports Includes only the parts that are already meshed in the search domain.
      Note: After you use this option, you can select additional features from the model; these features are appended to the list.
      All geometries Includes 2D and 3D features from ordered geometrical sets in the search domain, in addition to the regular 3D geometry.

    Tip: You can use the context menu to review and edit the list of features included in the search domain.

  3. Select one or more edges to define the Fastener placement.

    The selected edges must be in reasonable proximity of the fastener location—along or between the bodies the fastener connects.

    Warning: There are no restrictions on the edges that you can select to create the fastener. However, selection of an inappropriate edge will likely cause the connection to fail during or before simulation.

  4. Indicate a Search tolerance.

    Appropriate supports must exist within the tolerance to generate a list when you search.

  5. Enter a Prefix to add to the names of the created fasteners.
  6. Click Edit properties to review or edit the fastener properties applied at the locations you choose.

    For more information about the fastener properties, see Defining Line Fasteners.

  7. From the Engineering connections creation options, select one of the following:
    OptionDescription
    One for all connection properties Creates a single engineering connection for all detected fasteners.
    One per connected parts Creates or selects engineering connections based on which parts are connected.
    One per connection property Creates an engineering connection for each different connection property.
    In current finite element model Creates connection definitions in the current finite element model for any detected fasteners.
  8. Optional: Select Create Automated Specification to save the detection tool options so that you can easily regenerate the connections after a model change. For more information, see About Automated Specifications for Connections.

    This option is available only if you do both of the following:

    • Set the Search domain option to Meshed supports.
    • Set the engineering connection Creation location to In current finite element model.

  9. Click Find supports.
    A list of possible line fastener locations appears in the dialog box.
  10. In the table of search results, use the context menu to modify the proposed line fasteners. The options are Edit, Locate, and Delete.

    Tip: You can click a single row in the table, or use [Ctrl]+[Click] or [Shift]+[Click] to select multiple rows.

  11. Optional: Repeat steps 2 through 7 and click Find supports again to locate additional line fastener locations.
    Support locations found using the changed options are added to the table. New matches are marked with an asterisk (*). You can modify the new selections as described above.
  12. Click OK.

Fasteners are created at all the locations you chose.