Laterally connecting two parallel beams

[machstudent]

Hi,
my problem is to connect two beams in my model like they were welded together on their side surface. Then one of the beams (the upper one on the picture) is put on strain with a concentrated force. This would cause the other beam not only to bend but also to twist due to the moment caused by the loaded beam.
I tryed to implement a COUPLING constraint, by adding a partition edge on each beam and connecting them, but this did not work as the was no torsion recognizeable.
Connector sections also seem to be inapplicable, as they can only refer to the vertices on my model (can that be changed?). I would be very happy, if anyone can help me...

 

[corus]

I cant't make out what the picture shows but if you're connecting two 3D solid parts then it's better to connect them across two surfaces rather than edges so that rotation connectivity is assured otherwise you're just connecting them in translational degrees of freedom alone. Try a TIE constraint or perhaps merge the two parts where they join.

Tata

 

[machstudent]

Thanks for your reply corus. The problem is, that I did not work with 3D solid parts, but with beams. Beams consist of trusses (the wire you can see on the picture) with an assigned cross-section profile. Thats why there are no surfaces, which can be connected by a TIE constraint...

 

[corus]

Surely a truss has no torsional stiffness and no rotational degrees of freedom? Maybe switch to a generalised beam and release the rotational freedoms at their ends so that it behaves as a truss, but with torsion?

Tata