Creating General Analysis Connections

General analysis connections are used as supports for connection properties. In general, you use a general analysis connection to specify an association between two parts when a contact or coincidence assembly constraint is not appropriate. General analysis connections created in Abaqus for CATIA V5 are used by the following connection properties:

Contact pair

You use a general analysis connection and a contact pair to define contact (including self-contact) between selected surfaces. You also use a general analysis connection and a contact pair to define contact involving shells and beams.

Fastened pair

You use a general analysis connection and a fastened pair to link two part bodies that are tied together at their common boundary and behave as if they were a single body.

Pressure fitting connection property

You use a general analysis connection and a pressure fitting connection property to link two part bodies that are assembled in a press-fit configuration.

Rigid connection property

You must use a general analysis connection and a rigid connection property to link two part bodies that are connected by a rigid rod and behave as if they were a single body. The general analysis connection can connect a point, edge, or face to a point, edge, or face.

Smooth connection property

You must use a general analysis connection and a smooth connection property to link two part bodies that are connected by a common boundary and behave as if their interface is soft. The general analysis connection can connect a point, edge, or face to a point, edge, or face.

Spring/dashpot connection property

You must use a general analysis connection to define the points that support a spring (or dashpot) connection property. You can use only general analysis connections that join one point to another point—connections that include a face or an edge are not allowed.

You can select the same vertex for both points when you are creating a general analysis connection that defines the two points. When you select the general analysis connection as the support for a spring connection property, Abaqus for CATIA V5 assumes that the spring connects the vertex to ground.

Bolt tightening/Virtual bolt tightening connection property

You use a general analysis connection and a bolt tightening (or virtual bolt tightening) connection property to define the contact surface pairing between the bolt thread and the bolt support tapping.

When you use a general analysis connection to define contact, the first component that you select is used as the master surface in the contact pair; the second component that you select is used as the slave surface. If one of the components must act as the master surface in a contact pair (for example, an analytical rigid surface), select this component first when creating the general analysis connection.

You can define self-contact between faces by selecting the same faces for both the first and second components of the general analysis connection. Self-contact is typically the result of large deformation in a model. It is often difficult to predict which regions will be involved in the contact or how they will move relative to each other. You can select a general analysis connection that allows for self-contact as support for a contact pair. See Defining Contact Interactions in the Abaqus Interactions Guide for more information.

This task shows you how to create a general analysis connection between two parts in the assembly.

  1. Click the General Analysis Connection icon .

    The General Analysis Connection dialog box appears, and a General Analysis Connection object appears in the specification tree under the Analysis Connections objects set.

  2. You can change the identifier of the general analysis connection by editing the Name field.

  3. Select the first component of the connection. You can select a single vertex or one or more edges or surfaces. However, the type of entity that you select depends on the connection property that the general analysis connection will support. For example, you must select points when the general analysis connection will be used to support a spring connection property.

    Note:  You can select a group from the mesh part as a component of a general analysis connection. See Creating Groups for more information.

  4. Select the second component of the connection. You can select a single vertex or one or more edges or surfaces. If the second component is the same as the first component, Abaqus assumes that the edge or surface is interacting with itself in self-contact.

  5. Click OK in the General Analysis Connection dialog box.

    A symbol representing the general analysis connection appears between the first and second component.