Entering Bolt and Contact Solid

Modeling Bolt

In the webinar, to model the bolt, we create a circular surface with a radius of 1.9 m, which is located in the center of the splice opening.

Creating Circular Surface

Creating Sectional Area of Bolt

The line that forms the boundary of the new surface is to be divided into two semicircles, as the opening was before. For this purpose, a line is placed between Node 1 and Node 2 (see image Guideline for Connecting Circles) and all nodes and lines are connected to each another using the button. Then, you can delete the line in the middle of the bolt again.

Guideline for Connection of Circles

Extrude the surface about 2 cm to fill the entire opening.

Entering Contact Solid

The contact solid will fill the rest of the free space between the splice and the bolt, and contain the contact properties between these structural objects.

First, it is necessary to define the boundary surfaces of the contact solid. To do this, select the "Polygon Surface" type and the "Without Thickness" stiffness type. Thus, you create transverse surfaces between the bolt and the splice. Then, use the "Select Boundary" surface type to insert a surface on the side of the space.

Creating Polygon Surface

Boundary Surfaces of Contact Solid

You can simply copy this lateral surface onto the inside of the bolt by selecting the lateral surface and opening the "Move/Copy" dialog box using the button. Activate the "Create Copy" option and define the displacement vector by clicking the button in the graphic. To do this, first select a reference point and then the location where it should be copied.

Copying Boundary Surface of Contact Solid

Now, you can create the first half of the contact solid using the button. Select the "Contact" solid type and the boundary surfaces you have just created.

Solid Type "Contact"

After creating the solid, go back to the solid editing dialog box to define the contact properties. They can be assigned in the "Contact Solid" tab. In this tab, you can also specify the surfaces between which the contact is to be analyzed. The program determines these surfaces automatically, but to be sure, it is useful to check them before the calculation.

Creating New Contact Solid

In the contact solid, a distinction is made between the contact perpendicular and parallel to the surfaces. Depending on the contact type selected, you can specify the shear stiffness and the friction coefficient.

The contact types "Failure under Tension" and "Rigid Friction" were used for the connection between the splice and the bolt.

Specifying Contact Types

The first half of the contact solid is completely modeled now, and can be mirrored on the YZ plane using the button. To do this, activate the "Create Copy" option again and select the center of the opening as the point on the mirror plane.

Mirroring Contact Solids

Finally, copy the bolt and the contact solid into the second loop by -5 cm in the Y-direction. Further, the bolt was extruded 3 cm outwards and in the middle of the bracket in the webinar, so it is continuous.

Modeling Bolt