7th DoF (warping) - nodal supports
Introduction
This chapter is to provide a closer information about the behaviour of nodal supports, if the functionality of the 7th degree of freedom (warping) is considered in the project.
Nodal support - 7th degree of freedom (warping)
Additional constraint property of the warping is available for nodal supports and nodal supports on 1D (which are internally considered the same way as nodal support).
New constraint property within the support
See example in the figure below. Possible states are: Free (default), Rigid and Flexible. It is not possible to use nonlinear function for the constraint of this warping degree of freedom. Available states are described further.
A) Warping = Free
This option is default. There is no extra graphical symbol depicting this state within the support.
B) Warping = Rigid
If this option is selected, full warping constraint is considered in this support. Such state is graphically depicted by a 7-point star.
C) Warping = Flexible
If this option is selected, flexible warping constraint is considered in this support. Subsequently additional stiffness parameter for this support is to be defined: "Stiffness ω", with default value = 0.0 (hence referring to "Free" state of warping constraint). The unit of this stiffness is determined based on selected "Force" and "Length" units from the "Stiffness" chapter of the unit settings dialogue (part D in the figure above), and the dimension is "Force * Length ^3".
Note: Practical example is provided in chapter: "7th DoF (warping) - hinges".