Two connector elements are provided. The element type to be chosen depends
on the dimensionality of the analysis: CONN2D2 for two-dimensional and axisymmetric analyses and CONN3D2 for three-dimensional analyses. Both connector elements have at
most two nodes. The position and motion of the second node on the connector
element are measured relative to the first node.
Naming convention
Connector elements in
Abaqus
are named as follows:
For example, CONN2D2 is a two-dimensional, 2-node connector element.
Defining a Connection between Points
A connector element can be used to connect two points.
Defining a Connection between a Point and Ground
A connector element can be connected to ground, and the ground “node” can be
the first or second point on the connector element. The initial position of the
ground node used for calculating relative position and displacement is the
initial position of the other point on the element. All displacements and
rotations at the ground node, if they exist, are fixed.
Components of Relative Motion
Connector elements have relative displacements and rotations that are local
to the element. These relative displacements and rotations are referred to as
components of relative motion. In the three-dimensional case connector elements
use 12 nodal degrees of freedom to define six relative motion components: three
displacements and three rotations in element local directions. In two
dimensions six nodal degrees of freedom define three relative motion
components: two displacements and one rotation. The components of relative
motion are either constrained or unconstrained (“available”), depending upon
the definition of the connector element.
Constrained Components of Relative Motion
Constrained components of relative motion are displacements and rotations
that are fixed by the connector element.
In connector elements with constrained components of relative motion,
Abaqus/Standard
uses Lagrange multipliers to enforce the kinematic constraints. Accordingly, in
Abaqus/Standard the
constraint forces and moments carried by the element appear as additional
solution variables. The number of additional solution variables is equal to the
number of constrained components of relative motion. In
Abaqus/Explicit
the constraints are enforced using an augmented Lagrangian technique for which
no additional solution variables are needed.
Available Components of Relative Motion
Available components of relative motion are displacements and rotations that are not constrained
kinematically and, hence, remain available for defining material-like behavior, specifying
time-dependent motion, applying loading, or assigning complex interactions, such as
contact or friction. Many connection types have available components of relative motion,
and their meaning is described for each individual connection type.
Defining the Connection Attributes
The connection attributes define the connector element's function. In the
most general case you specify the following attributes:
the connection type or types,
the local directions associated with the connector's nodes,
additional data for certain connection types, and
the connector behavior.
The connector definition that is defined with these attributes is associated
with a set of connector elements.
Defining the Connection Type
Abaqus provides a comprehensive library of connection types. The connection types are
divided into three categories: basic connection components, assembled connections, and
complex connections. The basic connection components affect either translations or
rotations on the second node. A connector element may include one translational basic
connection component and/or one rotational basic connection component. The assembled
connections are constructed from the basic connection components. They are provided for
convenience and cannot be combined in the same connector element definition with a basic
connection component or other assembled connections. Complex connections affect a
combination of degrees of freedom at the nodes in the connection and cannot be combined
with other connection components.
The connection type is specified as:
a single basic connection type (translational or rotational),
one translational and one rotational basic connection type,
one assembled connection type, or
one complex connection type.
Defining the Local Connector Directions
Local directions at the nodes are often required to define the connection types used to define
the connector element. The local directions and how they are used to define the connection
are described. In the most general case the connection type uses two sets of
local directions, which are defined as described in Orientations. The names
associated with the two orientation definitions must be referred to from the connector
section definition.
Degree of Freedom Activation and Corotation of Connection Directions
Many connection types either require connection directions at the nodes on
the element or allow optional directions to be defined. In cases where an
orientation definition is permitted for defining connection directions
(required or optional), connector elements activate the rotational degrees of
freedom at the nodes to which they are attached, if they do not exist already.
The only exception is connection type JOIN, for which connection directions are optional at the first
node of the element, but rotation degrees of freedom are not activated.
The connector element's orientation directions corotate with the
rotational degrees of freedom at the corresponding node on the element. If
there is no element with rotational degrees of freedom or rotation constraint
(such as an equation or a multi-point constraint) attached to the node, you
must ensure that sufficient rotational boundary conditions are provided to
avoid numerical singularities associated with unconstrained rotational degrees
of freedom. Connection type JOIN uses fixed directions when rotational degrees of freedom are
not active at the nodes on the connector element.
Example
Figure 1 illustrates the use of the CONN3D2
element to connect two bodies with a cylindrical-like connector oriented at 60° from the
global 1-axis. On the left is a schematic representation of the connection to be
modeled; on the right is a representation of the equivalent finite element model.
The connection requires node b to remain on the line
of the shock absorber, which is determined by the position and orientation
directions of node a. Furthermore, the two rotation
components perpendicular to the line of the shock absorber at node
b must be the same as those at node
a. Hence, the only relative motion components permitted in
the connection are the displacement of node b relative to
node a along the line of the shock absorber and the
rotation of node b relative to node a
about the line of the shock absorber. This displacement and this rotation are
the available components of relative motion. The connector is defined using the
following lines in the input file:
ELEMENT, TYPE=CONN3D2, ELSET=shock
101, 11, 12
CONNECTOR SECTION, ELSET=shock
slot, revolute
ori60,
ORIENTATION, NAME=ori60
**Defines the local 1-direction along the slot (required)
**Also defines the rotation axis for the revolute (required)
0.5, 0.866025, 0.0, -0.866025, 0.5, 0.0
Alternatively, you could use the assembled connection type CYLINDRICAL instead of the two basic connection types SLOT and REVOLUTE.
Defining Additional Connection Type Data
Some connection types allow additional data to define the kinematic behavior of the connector.
For example, the connection type
FLOW-CONVERTER allows you to specify a
scaling factor for material flow at node b.
Defining the Connector Behavior
Abaqus
provides comprehensive kinetic behavior modeling in the available components of
relative motion. Defining connector behavior is optional and can be used to
incorporate spring, dashpot, node-to-node contact, locking, friction,
plasticity-like effects, and failure. The kinetic modeling capabilities in
connectors are described in detail in
Connector Behavior.
Using Connector Elements in Two-Dimensional and Axisymmetric
Analysis
Not all connection types can be used with element type
CONN2D2. The connection-type library contains
many connection types whose mechanics are valid for three-dimensional analyses only. In
other cases the local directions required in the definition of the connection type conflict
with the two-dimensional coordinate system.
Using Multiple Connector Elements in Parallel
Connector elements in
Abaqus
allow most physical connections to be modeled with a single connector element.
However, in certain circumstances more complex connections or output
considerations may require multiple connector elements to be used in parallel.
This is accomplished by defining two or more connector elements between the
same nodes. In this case you must ensure that a constrained component of
relative motion in one connector element is not constrained (either by a
kinematic constraint or through motion specified as described in
Connector Actuation)
by one of the other connector elements.
Multiple connector elements are sometimes used in parallel to obtain output
in different coordinate systems. For a connector element between two bodies,
the local directions at the nodes can be determined by the requirements of the
connection type. However, output may be needed in a different, possibly
corotating, coordinate system. For example, the angular acceleration history
could be reported in a local, body-fixed coordinate system (other than the one
used to define the connector element) by using a second connector element (such
as connection type CARDAN) that does not impose kinematic constraints or use connector
behavior but aligns with the desired local output directions.
Defining Connectors in a Model That Contains Parts and an Assembly
An
Abaqus
model can be defined in terms of an assembly of part instances (see
Assembly Definition).
Connector elements can be defined at either the part level or the assembly
level in such a model.
Using Connector Elements with Nodal Transformations
Nodal transformations (see
Transformed Coordinate Systems)
can be defined for either node connected to the connector element. Since these
transformations affect only the nodal degrees of freedom, their use does not
affect the behavior of the connector element. Connector elements operate on
components of motion local to the connection.
Using Nonlinear Connections in Geometrically Linear Analyses
If a connector element with a nonlinear kinematic constraint is used in a
geometrically linear analysis, the kinematic constraint is linearized. For
example, if connection type LINK is used in a geometrically linear analysis, the distance
between the two nodes is held constant after projection onto the direction of
the line between the original positions of the nodes. The difference should be
noticeable only if the magnitudes of the rotations and displacements are not
small.
Mismatched Masses at Connector Nodes in Abaqus/Explicit
If the nodes of a connector element in
Abaqus/Explicit
have masses that are highly mismatched, the implicit solver may encounter
convergence problems due to the resulting ill-conditioned coefficient matrix.
To prevent this from happening, if the nodal masses or rotary inertias of a
connector element differ by more than three orders of magnitude,
Abaqus/Explicit
adds mass/rotary inertia to the connector element node that has the smaller
mass/rotary inertia. The mass/rotary inertia added is negligibly small (less
than three orders of magnitude smaller) compared to the larger of the connector
element's nodal inertias. This additional mass almost never affects the
solution significantly. However, in certain situations (for example, for a
strongly dynamic analysis that has connector elements with highly mismatched
nodal masses) this adjustment may have a noticeable effect.
Connector Output
The connector element force, moment, and kinematic output is defined in
Connector Element Library.
These output quantities include total, elastic, viscous, and friction forces
and moments. In addition, reaction forces and moments caused by connector stops
and locks are available as well as connector contact forces used for friction
calculation.
To obtain accurate reaction force and moment output for connectors from
Abaqus/Explicit,
it may sometimes be necessary to run the analysis in double precision. In such
situations a double precision run will also yield a better estimate of the work
done by the reaction forces and moments, thereby providing a more accurate
value of the energy due to the external work reported by
Abaqus/Explicit.
Kinematic output includes relative position, relative displacement, relative
velocity, relative acceleration, frictional slip, and constitutive
displacements (the displacement used in the elastic force and hysteretic
friction calculations defined as the difference between the current relative
positions and the reference positions; see
Defining Reference Lengths and Angles for Constitutive Response).
For relative rotations the
Abaqus
convention of reporting angles between
and
radians is not used with connector elements. Connector element output of angles
and rotational components or relative motion includes accumulated multiple
rotations whose magnitudes can be arbitrarily large. Energy output is
available, as are output flags to identify whether a connector has failed (in
Abaqus/Explicit
only), locked, or reached a connector stop.
In modal analysis procedures, element output is allowed only for the
AXIAL,
BUSHING,
CARDAN,
CARTESIAN, and
ROTATION connection types when there is
no connector motion associated with them.
In a geometrically linear step in
Abaqus/Standard
the relative position output variable does not change (in the same fashion that
the nodal coordinates are output). Therefore, care must be exercised in
interpreting output for connector stops and locks since they use updated
coordinates.
Connector element names displayed in the output database have a "G" added
at the end to indicate that this connector is connected to ground.
Using Connector Elements for Output Only
Connector elements defined without kinematic constraints or constitutive
behavior can be used to monitor kinematic output in local coordinate systems.
Quantities of interest include relative position, displacement, velocity, and
acceleration in local coordinate parametrization. Finite rotation
parametrizations include Euler and Cardan angles, rotation vector, and
flexion-torsion-sweep. For an example that uses a connector element to monitor
Euler angles, see
Motion of a rigid body in Abaqus/Standard.
In Abaqus/Explicit all such connectors are solved without invoking the implicit solver, which leads to
better performance in domain parallel mode (particularly when such connectors nodes overlap
with other constraints such as secondary nodes of tie constraints).