Creating Seam Welding Connection Properties
A seam weld is modeled by a line of connections between surfaces of two parts. The surfaces can lie on separate parts or within a single part (for example, between overlapping faces). The parts can be meshed with either compatible or incompatible meshes. If you have a compatible mesh, a seam weld connects a line of nodes on the first surface directly to a line of nodes on the second surface. If you have an incompatible mesh, a spot weld distributes the connection between the surfaces among several nodes.
After you create a seam welding connection property, Abaqus for CATIA V5 creates a seam welding connection mesh. Table 6–17 summarizes the constraints that can be used to define a seam welding connection property in Abaqus for CATIA V5.
Table 6–17 Seam welding connection properties.
| Abaqus for CATIA V5 | |
|---|---|
| Line Analysis Connection | Line Analysis Connection Within One Part |
 | |
In Abaqus for CATIA V5 the connection between the surfaces can be one of the following:
Shell
A shell seam weld is modeled by a line of shell elements between surfaces, as described in Table 6–18.
Rigid
A rigid seam weld is modeled by a line of rigid beam connectors between surfaces, as described in Table 6–19.
Spring-Rigid-Spring
A spring-rigid-spring seam weld is modeled by a line of two zero-length springs between surfaces, as described in Table 6–20. The springs have identical elastic properties and are joined by a rigid beam connector.
Rigid-Spring-Rigid
A rigid-spring-rigid seam weld is modeled by a line of two rigid beam connectors between surfaces, as described in Table 6–21. The rigid beam connectors are joined by a zero-length spring.
Beam
A beam seam weld is modeled by a line of beam elements between surfaces, as described in Table 6–22.
| Compatible Mesh | Abaqus Equivalent | Incompatible Mesh | Abaqus Equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Beam element |  | Distributing couplings and a beam element |
See Creating Mesh Properties for a description of the CATIA V5 beam profiles supported by Abaqus for CATIA V5.
You must select a user material that provides the material properties (CATIA V5 or Nonlinear) of the beam elements. The material must define the following:
Young's modulus
Coefficient of thermal expansion
If the material uses Nonlinear properties, either Young's modulus or the coefficient of thermal expansion can be temperature dependent, but not both. For more information, see Specifying Abaqus Material Properties.
Hexahedron
A hexahedron seam weld is modeled by a line of hexahedral connectors between surfaces, as described in Table 6–23. You must select the user material that provides the material properties of the hexahedral elements. The material properties for a hexahedron seam weld must meet the same requirements as the requirements for a beam seam weld.
You can request history output of relative displacements and rotations and of total, elastic, viscous, and reaction forces and moments from a seam welding connection property. The support for the history output request is the connection mesh. See Connection-type library in the Abaqus Elements Guide for a description of how Abaqus treats connectors.
This task shows you how to create a seam welding connection property between two parts.
Click the Seam Welding Connection Property icon
.The Seam Welding Connection Property dialog box appears. A Seam Welding Connection Property object appears in the specification tree under the Properties objects set, and a Seam Welding Connection Mesh appears under the Nodes and Elements object.
You can change the identifier of the seam weld connection property by editing the Name field.
In the specification tree, select an existing Line Analysis Connection object or Line Analysis Connection within one Part object.
The Supports field is updated to reflect your selection.
Select the type of seam weld.
By default, any springs in a seam weld have no stiffness in either the translational or rotational degrees of freedom. In addition, by default a seam welding connection property is associated with the global, rectangular Cartesian axis system. To change the default behavior, click the Component Editor icon
and do the following from the Seam Welding Definition dialog box that appears:Change the translational and rotational stiffness.
Specify a local coordinate system for the degrees of freedom. Local coordinate systems are defined in the CATIA Part Design workbench.
Click OK to accept your changes and to close the Seam Welding Definition dialog box.
If you selected a beam or a hexahedron type of seam weld, click the Component Editor icon
and do the following from the Seam Welding Definition dialog box that appears:From the specification tree, choose a user material with the required material properties.
Specify a local coordinate system for the degrees of freedom. Local coordinate systems are defined in the CATIA Part Design workbench.
Click OK to accept your changes and to close the Seam Welding Definition dialog box.
Click OK in the Seam Welding Connection Property dialog box.
Symbols representing the seam weld connection property appear at the location of the corresponding seam welding connection mesh.
If necessary, double-click on the Seam Welding Connection Mesh object in the specification tree and enter the following:
Whether the mesh is compatible or incompatible.
The maximum gap between the nodes that are modeling the seam weld connection. The value is the radius of a sphere that intersects nodes on both of the parts that are being welded.
The spacing of the connector elements.
The width of a hexahedron seam weld.
Right-click on the seam welding connection mesh object in the specification tree, and select Update Mesh from the menu that appears.