How to create a beam MPC or attachment lines between a wire and shell structure in abaqus ?

[VaidehiChennubhotla]

Hi,

I have a wireframe of B31 elements and a S4R shell structure. I am trying to connect the node to node (1-1) either as a coupling or a beam MPC or attachment line. How to achieve this ?

I tried the create attachment by projecting points option in Interaction module. Is this the Beam MPC? But this option seems to require 2 faces to create attachment lines. It is not creating attachment lines between wire frame and Shell structure. Is there any alternative option ?

I used the coupling constraint option. I created SlaveNodes set on the Shell and MasterNodes set on the wire. But the coupling is showing interaction between all the nodes. Is it possible to have 1-1 (Node-Node) coupling ?

 

[Mustaine3]

Reposition the wires in the Assembly-module, so they share the same space. Go into the Interaction-module and use Connector->Coincident Builder.
Select now all the nodes at once. The tool will recognize what nodes are close to each other and create a wire and connector between them.
Now you can go back into the Assembly-module and change the position of instances.

As an alternative - I've written a Python script some years ago, that checks the distance between certain nodes and creates a connection between the one that is closest to the ones in a specific set. I could check tomorrow if I can find it...

 

[FEA way]

You can use MPC Constraint tool (available in Create Constraint window). Just note that you will have to operate on individual nsets and without the help of scripting it might be a bit tedious.

In this thread you can find some tips on how to make defining mulitple MPCs between nodes easier:

https://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=460924

 

[VaidehiChennubhotla]

Hi Mustaine3 and FEA way, Thanks for the quick reply. I had selected all 1300 nodes one by one and created Beam MPC carefully between 2 nodes. But at the very end my model got crashed and couldnt save the work. Could you please share the python script ? It will be really helpful.

Thanks,
Vaidehi

 

[VaidehiChennubhotla]

Hi ,

Found a plug in abaqus. Will try and see.

https://kb.dsxclient.3ds.com/mashup-ui/page/resultqa?id=QA00000008241e