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FAQ 003585 EN-US

09/13/2019

# I use member hinges with slippage in the longitudinal direction of the member. However, the calculation is always aborted because of an instability message. How can I optimize the system accordingly?

Especially the definition of slippage is a challenge for the solver due to the nonlinear calculation. In the following, hints are given how instabilities can be avoided.

###### Sliding definition
Slippage (eg in one connection) is defined by means of the "Partial Effect" nonlinearity (see Figure 03). It can be used to define the hinge displacement from which the forces should be transferred. As can be seen in the diagram, the stop, that is, the stiffness that acts according to the corresponding hinge displacement, is considered as rigid (vertical branch, see the red arrows). However, under certain circumstances, this may lead to numerical problems in the calculation. To avoid this, the stiffness that acts after the hinge displacement should be reduced slightly. This is achieved by defining a very stiff spring (see Figure 04).

In addition to the very stiff stop, numerical problems may occur within the slippage. In this case, a small stiffness has to be considered for the effect of the slippage in order to increase the horizontal branch a little bit. The stiffness should be selected so small that it has no decisive influence (see Figure 05). This situation is possible by using the "Diagram" nonlinearity.

###### Arrangement of Member Hinges
When arranging the hinges, care should be taken to ensure that they are not defined in the same direction on both member ends. Thus, there is a state in which the member is not sufficiently supported and the system fails already in the first iterations. In such a case, the slippage on only one side of the member should be defined and the size of the slippage adjusted accordingly (see Figure 06).