WELDGENERATE

Spot Weld Element Generation

Description: CWELD element generation. Converts a specified set of CBAR elements into CWELD elements.

Format:

WELDGENERATE, ftype, ctype, esid, diameter

Examples:

WELDGENERATE, ELEMID, SPOT, 1, 0.3

WELDGENERATE, ALIGN, GENERAL, 2, 0.1

Option Definition Type Default
ftype Connection format type, one of the following character variables: ELEMID or ALIGN. See Remark 1.
ELEMID Connection to the shell element nearest to the reference bar element end point.
ALIGN Connection to one or more shell element vertex grid points.
Character Required
ctype Weld connection type, one of the following character variables: SPOT or GENERAL. See Remark 2.
SPOT Weld type connection.
GENERAL General connection.
Character GENERAL
esid Element set identification number. Set identification of previously appearing SET command. Only bar elements whose identification numbers appear on this SET command will be used. Integer > 0 See Remark 3
diameter Diameter of the connector. See Remark 4. Real > 0.0 or blank See Remark 4

Remarks:

  1. Both ELEMID and ALIGN function similarly to the corresponding options in the CWELD Bulk Data entry. For ftype = ELEMID, connection will be to the shell element with its origin nearest the reference bar element end point. For ftype = ALIGN, the reference bar element is already connected to a shell element vertex.
  2. For ctype = SPOT and ftype = ELEMID, the effective length for the stiffness of the weld element is set to regardless of the reference bar element distance GA to GB. and are the shell thicknesses of SHIDA and SHIDB which are located automatically based on proximity. For all other cases, the effective length of the weld element is equal to the true length, the distance of the reference bar GA to GB, provided the ratio of length to diameter is in the range 0.2 ≤ L/D ≤ 5.0. If L is below this range, the effective length is set to and if L is above this range, the effective length is set to .
  3. If esid is blank, all CBAR elements will be converted to CWELD elements.
  4. The reference bar element material property will be used for the corresponding CWELD element generated. If diameter is not specified, the reference bar area will be used to generate an equivalent diameter.
  5. See the CWELD and PWELD Bulk Data entries for more information.