Same distance with large displacements

[Hans Dampf]

Hi,
This is my entry to this forum, but it has already helped me on a number of occasions.

I need to couple radial displacements of a number of nodes arranged in a circle on a plane. During the simulation this plane has to be tilted whilst the nodes on the surface are allowed to move in radial direction with the same displacement.
The surface can be tilted using kinematic coupling, however, all nodes will then have a different radial displacement.
With *equation I can force the nodes to have the same radial displacement, but I can no longer tilt the surface (coordinate systems are not co-rotational).

Previously I didn't tilt the surface and used *equation in combination with *transform (using cylindrical coordinates), however, now the plane containing the nodes needs to be tilted.
Because the coordinate systems are not co-rotational I cannot use *equation anymore.

Attached is an example input file to illustrate the problem:

Kinematic coupling and connector elements are co-rotational, but I don't see any way I could use them to enforce the condition that all nodes have the same radial displacement.

I have tried a lot, this is the very first time I really think something is impossible in Abaqus.
Has anybody an idea?

Thank you in advance!

Kind regards
Max

 

[testing]

The example for kinematic coupling (Section 35.2.3 of the Analysis User's Guide) cover this exact use case.

 

[testing]

Bah, I should've read more closely. Can you use a combination of kinematic rotation and equation to make this work?