When selecting the Rigid Body option under Type on the Connector form, the following sections are available, if the Rigid type is chosen:
When selecting the Rigid Body option under Type on the Connector form, the following sections are available, if the Interpolation type is chosen:
- Add To FE Model: This checkbox automatically puts this rigid body connector under FE Model.
- Connector Element: Allows multiple rigid elements to be defined within the current Connector Name.
- When set to Rigid, you define the Independent Vertex/Point and the Dependent Entities.
- When set to Interpolation, you define the Reference Vertex/Point and which Entities to Average.
- Display Options: Allows you to edit the display options of the rigid body connector.
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Type:
- Rigid: Defines RBE2 (fully rigid) element types.
- Interpolation: Defines RBE3 (interpolation) element types. Typically used to distribute loads.
Care must be used when defining Rigid (RBE2) and Interpolation rigid elements (RBE3). Careless creation can cause fatal errors.
When using RBE2 elements, the Dependent entities will move exactly how the Independent entities move. When using RBE3 elements, the displacement of the reference nodes is the weighted average of the displacement of the Entities to Average.