Spherical Connector

SuyashS

I'm currently trying out SimSolid for various types of problems and have found it to be very impressive! I had a question about modelling a spherical joint/ connector.

 

As far as I know, SimSolid currently provides an option of modelling a pin joint between parts and a hinged/spherical support with the ground, but does not provide an option to model a spherical joint.

 

An option to create a spring between 2 parts with translation and rotational stiffness (equivalent to the CBUSH element in OptiStruct) or a ready spherical connector would be great!

Is this feature planned to be added in a future release?

 

I'm currently trying to do this by physically modelling a ball and socket geometry and defining a separating/closing contact with very low coefficient of friction between the surfaces. The non-linear solution takes multiple passes to solve (even for a small ball-socket trial problem) with mixed results.

 

Would really appreciate it if someone could provide an insight on a way to do this.

SuyashS

A quick update, the very next day day after I posted this query I found out that a bushing option had been added under virtual connectors. This allows the user to provide translational and rotational stiffness between parts or with the ground. Keeping minimal values for rotational stiffness components works like a ball joint.

 

Greatly appreciate this and other enhancements that get added almost every other week!

Koushik Chandrashekhar_21806

Hi,

 

Yes, Virtual bushings are used to define directional stiffness, inertia and damping coefficients.

All coefficients are defined with respect to a bushing reference coordinate system.

Bushings can be between two parts or between a single part and ground.

NOTE: Virtual bushings are ignored in heat transfer analysis. Moreover, stress along/near bushing boundary faces may be of reduced quality.