Tightening Beam

Tightening Beam element with two nodes, used to impose a minimum overlap between two nodes.

Type

lineic element

Physical property

tightening

Mesh connectivity

BAR

Number of nodes

2

Degrees of freedom
(per node)

6 (3 translations and 3 rotations)

Type of behavior

kinematics

The relations are obtained in the following way: 

  1. Link the displacement of the two nodes (N1 and N2) according to the rigid body motion equations, except for the translation in the direction N1N2.
  2. Impose a minimal overlap between the two nodes in the direction N1N2

If the length of the beam is null, the direction given by the property is used.

Tightening elements generate a two-steps computation:

  1. Submit a tightening force,
  2. Impose a minimum overlap equal to the overlap obtained in the first step.