-
From the main menu bar, select .
-
In the Create Constraint dialog box that appears, do the
following:
-
Name the constraint. For more information about naming objects, see
Using basic dialog box components.
-
From the Type list, select
Coupling, and then click
Continue.
-
Select one or more points to define the constraint control points using one of
the following methods:
-
Select one or more points in the viewport.
(For
more information, see Selecting objects within the current viewport.) Click mouse button 2 to indicate that you have finished
selecting.
If the model contains a combination of mesh and geometry, click one
of the following from the prompt area:
-
Click Geometry if you want to select
the constraint control point from geometry or select a
reference point.
-
Click Mesh if you want to select the
constraint control point from a native or orphan mesh
selection.
-
Use an existing set to define the region. On the right side of the
prompt area, click Sets. Select an existing
set from the Region Selection dialog box that
appears, and click Continue. Note:
The default selection method is based on the selection method you
most recently employed. To revert to the other method, click
Select in Viewport or
Sets on the right side of the prompt
area.
The points that you select become highlighted in red in the viewport.
-
In the prompt area, select one of the following to define the constraint region
type:
-
Select the constraint region using one of the following methods:
-
Select a region in the viewport. (For more information, see Selecting objects within the current viewport.) Click mouse button 2 to
indicate that you have finished selecting.
If the model contains a combination of mesh and geometry, click one
of the following from the prompt area:
-
Use an existing surface to define the region. On the right side of
the prompt area, click Surfaces. Select an
existing surface from the Region Selection
dialog box that appears, and click
Continue. Note:
The default selection method is based on the selection method you
most recently employed. To revert to the other method, click
Select in Viewport or
Surfaces on the right side of the prompt
area.
The region that you select becomes highlighted magenta in the viewport, and
the constraint editor appears.
-
From the editor, choose one of the following Coupling type
categories:
-
Choose Kinematic to define a kinematic coupling
constraint between the control points and the points in the
constraint region, and toggle on the degrees of freedom that you
want to constrain.
-
Choose Distributing to define a distributing
coupling constraint between the control points and the points in the
constraint region. Abaqus/CAE automatically constrains the translational degrees of
freedom.
-
Toggle on the rotational degrees of freedom that you want to
constrain.
-
Choose the Translational Coupling type
option Translational Continuum
distributing or Translational
Structural distributing.
-
Choose the Rotational Coupling type
option Rotational Continuum
distributing or Rotational Structural
distributing.
-
Click the arrow next to the Weighting
method field, and select a weighting method from
the list that appears. For more information, see Coupling Constraints.
-
From the editor, choose one of the following methods to define the
Influence radius:
-
To outermost point on the region. Abaqus includes all points (nodes) on the specified region in the
coupling definition.
-
Specify. You can specify the radius of a sphere,
centered about the constraint control points, to limit the points in
the coupling definition. For more information on selecting the
coupling points, see Coupling Constraints.
-
If desired, toggle on Adjust control points to lie on
surface. Abaqus/CAE will move the control points to lie on the constraint surface.
-
If you want to change the coordinate system (CSYS) for the
coupling constraint, click and use one of the following methods:
-
Select a predefined datum coordinate system by name.
-
From the prompt area, click Datum CSYS
List to display a list of datum coordinate
systems.
-
Select a name from the list, and click
OK.
-
Select a predefined coordinate system in the viewport.
-
Click Use Global CSYS from the prompt area to
use the global coordinate system.
-
Click OK to save your constraint definition and to close
the editor.
|