Managing element-associated data for universal connections (Abaqus)

In the Abaqus environment, the software uses element-associated data to define the attributes of elements it creates for bolt and sealing connections and for spot and seam welds. The element-associated data uses physical property tables to define the material, section, degrees of freedom, or the coordinate system as appropriate. The number of meshes and physical property tables created depends on the connection properties.

Bolt connections

The meshing of B31 and CONNECTORS spiders creates the following:

• One mesh with all the B31 elements and the material and section defined in element-associated data.The number of physical property tables created is equal to the number of possible material and section combinations for the bolt. At most, there can be one physical property table for each bolt. Elements with identical material or section combination use the same physical property table.

• One mesh with all the Kinematic Coupling elementsAt most two Kinematic Coupling physical property tables are created depending on the types of elements to which the Kinematic Coupling elements are connected as shown in the table.If the Kinematic Coupling element is connected toThe number of physical property tables isSolid elementsOne with translation DOFs fixedShell elementsOne with all DOFs fixedSolid and shell elementsTwo, one with translation DOFs fixed and one with all DOFs fixed.Each Kinematic Coupling element has one of the physical property tables defined in the element-associated data depending on the connected elements.

Sealing connections

The meshing of the Connector (elasticity) + Interpolation spiders creates the following meshes and physical property tables:

• One mesh with all the Spring2 elements and stiffness and the coordinate system defined in Spring physical property tables set in the element-associated data.For each sealing connection, the number of Spring physical property tables is equal to the number of different coordinate systems. For the Predefined type of coordinate system, the coordinate system varies for each definition point and each element has a different coordinate system. For the other types of coordinate systems, for elements that belong to the same sealing connection and have the same type of coordinate system, each uses the same physical property table. The coordinate system is stored as Coordinate System when using the Cartesian, Cylindrical, or Spherical type in the sealing connection. It is stored as Coordinate System Data when using Predefined or Absolute.

• One mesh with all the DCOUP3D elements.

Seam welds

The physical property tables created depend on the type of elements used to mesh the connection.

Rigid Connector

The meshing of a Rigid Connector creates one mesh with all the Kinematic Coupling elements.

At most two Kinematic Coupling physical property tables are created depending the elements to which the Kinematic Coupling elements are connected as shown in the table.

If the Kinematic Coupling element is connected to	The number of physical property tables is
Solid elements	One with translation DOFs fixed
Shell elements	One with all DOFs fixed
Solid and shell elements	Two, one with translation DOFs fixed and one with all DOFs fixed.

Each Kinematic Coupling element has one of the physical property tables defined in the element-associated data depending on the connected elements.

Rigid Connector + Rigid Connector spider(s)

The meshing of a Rigid Connector+Rigid Connector spiders seam weld creates one mesh with all Kinematic Coupling elements.

At most, two Kinematic Coupling physical property tables are created depending on the elements to which the Kinematic Coupling elements are connected, as shown in the table.

If the Kinematic Coupling element is connected to	The number of physical property tables is
Solid elements	One with translation DOFs fixed
Shell elements	One with all DOFs fixed
Solid and shell elements	Two, one with translation DOFs fixed and one with all DOFs fixed.

Each Kinematic Coupling element has one of the physical property table defined in the element-associated data, depending on the connected elements.

Spot weld

The physical property tables created depend on the type of elements used to mesh the connection.

RIGID+RIGID spiders

The meshing of RIGID+RIGID spiders creates one mesh with all the Kinematic Coupling elements.

At most, two Kinematic Coupling physical property tables are created depending the elements to which the Kinematic Coupling elements are connected as shown in the table.

If the Kinematic Coupling element is connected to	The number of physical property tables is
Solid elements	One with translation DOFs fixed
Shell elements	One with all DOFs fixed
Solid and shell elements	Two, one with translation DOFs fixed and one with all DOFs fixed.

Each Kinematic Coupling element has one of the physical property tables defined in the element-associated data depending on the connected elements.

B31+CONNECTORS spiders

The meshing of B31 and CONNECTORS spiders creates:

• One mesh with all the B31 elements and material and section attributes defined in element-associated data.The number of physical property tables is equal to the number of possible material and/or section combinations for the selected spot welds. Elements with identical material or section combinations use the same physical property table.

• One mesh with all the Kinematic Coupling elements.At most, two Kinematic Coupling physical property tables are created, depending on the elements to which the Kinematic Coupling elements are connected, as shown in the table. If the Kinematic Coupling element is connected toThe number of physical property tables isSolid elementsOne with translation DOFs fixedShell elementsOne with all DOFs fixedSolid and shell elementsTwo, one with translation DOFs fixed and one with all DOFs fixed.

How do I

Realize (mesh) universal connections

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Managing element-associated data for universal connections (Abaqus), Simcenter 3D 2021.1 Series

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