jnxd wrote: ↑Tue Nov 01, 2022 8:26 am
They
don't seem necessary:
In the absence of any of the parameters REF NODE or ROT NODE, extra nodes are generated internally assuming their tasks. The position of the default REF NODE is the origin.
The location of the REF NODE is often important and can't be left as default. Especially when applying loads via rigid body constraint (torsion, remote forces).
jnxd wrote: ↑Tue Nov 01, 2022 8:26 am
This does seem to be a pretty loaded set of actions. Let's start small first and skip the displacement part. Also, displacements and forces are only applied on RefNode, and rotations and moments only on RotNode. In the future we can try to define ref and rot nodes using datum points and then apply displacements and rotations to them (this would simplify this task-view, maybe at the cost of generalizing other constraints).
Screenshot from 2022-11-01 13-51-56.png
A way to simplify this task panel would be to add a checkbox to switch from loads to displacements. When checked it would change the units of the input field to mm or rad. So it would look like this:
- Screenshot from 2022-11-01 13-51-56.png (49.7 KiB) Viewed 2377 times
Something like this is implemented in SolidWorks Simulation. Being able to define displacements/rotations is important since, among others, it allows you to apply rotational BCs to solids which is normally impossible. For example, you can use prescribed rotation instead of torque (much better for convergence in nonlinear analyses).
Also, the section for ROT NODE coordinates can be removed:
The rotational node can be defined explicitly using the parameter ROT NODE. In that case, this node must be been assigned coordinates (their value is irrelevant) and should not belong to any element of the structure.
And it would be good to allow for the selection also of other entities than faces - vertices, edges and, most importantly, solids (since this constraint can make a whole solid rigid) but faces are a good start.