Dear Members,
my problem is the following:
I want to calculate the frequency modes of a gearbox-housing that consists of two parts screwed with a flange, using OptiStruct as solver.
A validated approach that I want to try is modelling the screws as a bar-element that connects two mpc-rigids, one in the thread-area an the other in the area of the screw-head. The problem that I have is the connection of the two meshes (3D-parabolic with tetra-elements) of the parts in the flange-area. Simply connecting the whole flange leads to unsatisfactory results so that I just want to connect the flange areas in a certain radius auround the axis of the screw.
My first idea was using the area-connector to create rigid-elements, but I still have problems to understand, how it works and if its even possible to do it in that manner.
When I select 'elems' in the location-botton of the area-panel and 'rigid' as type no area-connectors are created independent of every other option chosen.
Using 'node list' leads to really strange connections and its hardly possible to even achieve a creation of some connections.
Does anyone have an indea of a different approach connecting the flange-areas? As far as I know defining a contact is not possible for a modal analysis due to linearity.
Thank you very much in advance!!
