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UsingtheNXNastran Cbush SpringElement

Springs versus CBUSH SpringsversusCBUSH
Thereisnoversus,theonlyspringelementthatIuseistheCBUSH.Why?Takea
lookatthenotebelowwrittenbyawellrespectedNastran architect(TedRose).For
l if h d d NX N i l b i id
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example,ifyouusethestandardNXNastran springelementbetweennoncoincident
nodes,youhavethepotentialtosuckforceoutofyourmodel;thatis,yourOLOAD
wontmatchyourSPCFORCEintheF06fileandyourmodelcouldbeoutofwhack.
ImadethismistakeonceandwasschooledbysenioranalystatNavistarwhenshe
ti d th t d l h d t t I h t th d l b
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noticedthatmymodelhadsomestrangestresses.Inshort,themodelwasgarbage.
ThecorrectionwastosimplyswapouttheCELASforCBUSHelements.
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TheCBUSHelementdoes accountforanyoffsetbetweenGRIDpoints,soifyouusethis,itisacceptabletohave
offsetGRIDpoints.IfyouuseCELASi elements(regularNXNastran springs),youare"addingtermsdirectlyinto
th tiff t i " d th i ff t b t th GRID i t Th t i th f th d ti thestiffnessmatrix"andthereisnooffsetbetweentheGRIDpoints.Thatisthereasonfortherecommendation
intheCommonQ&AthattheGRIDpointsbecoincident.Mostpreprocessorsallowspringelementsbetween
noncoincident points.Inthiscase,ifthespringdoesnotactalongthelineconnectingthepoints,youhavea
"springtoground".Thespringwillnotallowrigidbodyrotation.
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UsingtheNXNastran Cbush SpringElement
CBUSH Usage: CBUSHUsage:
Femap hasseveralgoodlittlesectionsonhowtocreatetheCBUSHelement
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UsingtheNXNastran Cbush SpringElement
CBUSH Usage: CBUSHUsage:
Femap hasseveralgoodlittlesectionsonhowtocreatetheCBUSHelement
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UsingtheNXNastran Cbush SpringElement
CBUSH Usage: CBUSHUsage:
TheNXNastran ElementLibrarySection6.2givesyouthemathematicalbackground
thatyouwillneed:
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UsingtheNXNastran Cbush SpringElement
CBUSH Example with Solid Elements: CBUSHExamplewithSolidElements:
Ahexedsphereissuspendedbyfour
CBUSH elements The constraints
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CBUSHelements.Theconstraints
createtheminimalsetforstability.
TheCBUSHshouldbetreatedlikea
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delicatebeamelement.Eachnode
has6DOF.Whenattachedtoasolid
elementwith3DOF,therotational
DOF need to be constrained or the
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DOFneedtobeconstrainedorthe
modelwillbeunstable.
AtthefreeendoftheCBUSHelement,
therotationalDOFarefixed(456)and
theverticalDOF(2).
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UsingtheNXNastran Cbush SpringElement
CBUSH Example with Solid Elements: CBUSHExamplewithSolidElements:
TheCBUSHelementisselectedas
a Spring/Damper
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aSpring/Damper.
Then,andthisisthestepthat
mostpeoplemiss,isthatone
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needstochangetheFormulation.
WhenyoupresstheFormulation
button you have another screen
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button,youhaveanotherscreen
whereyoucanchangethe
Nastran typeto1.CBUSH
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UsingtheNXNastran Cbush SpringElement
CBUSH Example with Solid Elements: CBUSHExamplewithSolidElements:
CBUSHrequiresanorientationvector
for creation (like a beam element)
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forcreation(likeabeamelement).
However,thespringconstantscanbe
setupintheCBUSHcoordinatesystem
orthatoftheOrientationCSys.For
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thisexample,thelatterapproachis
used.
For stability small values are used to
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Forstability,smallvaluesareusedto
keeptherotationalDOFstable.Thisis
necessarywhenthe6DOFCBUSHis
attachedtoa3DOFelement.
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UsingtheNXNastran Cbush SpringElement
CBUSH Example with Solid Elements: CBUSHExamplewithSolidElements:
ConstrainingtheCBUSHisthebiggest
challenge to its use To get the
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challengetoitsuse.Togetthe
constraintsrightyoumustusethe
constraintsetandtheCBUSHcard
together.
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WhentheCBUSHisattachedtosolid
elements,DOF123areautomatically
constrainedbutnotDOF456.
To create a full constraint set for the
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Tocreateafullconstraintsetforthe
CBUSH,weneedtoconstrainall6
DOFadequately.Thetranslational
(123)arecoveredbythesolidelement
butrotational(456)areproblematic.
Onesolutionistofixoneend(456)
andthenusesmallrotationalvaluesin
the CBUSH formulation. theCBUSHformulation.
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UsingtheNXNastran Cbush SpringElement
CBUSH Example with Plate Elements: CBUSHExamplewithPlateElements:
Thedifferencewithattachedto6DOF
elements is that the CBUSH has
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elementsisthattheCBUSHhas
somethingtoanchortoforall6DOF
(123456).Todemonstratethis,the
modelwillrunwithonlythevertical
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DOFconstrained.
Themodelsusedinthisexampleare
available with this note at the website
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availablewiththisnoteatthewebsite.