Hello,
Is there any way to connect the first and last node of the pile element to the liner element in 3DEC? I am using the snap command, however, I don’t see the connection (attached figure). I have a liner element on both sides of the pile element.
Thank you
Firstly, you need to ensure that a node on the pile is at the same location as a node on the liner. Then you need to join them using STRUCT NODE JOIN command. Note that they will be rigidly connected in 6 degrees of freedom. You may want to free the rotational DOFs depending on the connection (see STRUCT LINK ATTACH).
See simple example below. Run it, then plot the pile, and set the marker to Link. You can then query the link to convince yourself it worked (or use STRUCT LINK LIST TARGET command).
model new
block create brick -10 10
block densify
block zone gen edge 5
struct liner create by-block-face range pos-z 10
; make sure end of pile is at same location as a node on the liner
struct pile create by-line 0,0,10 0,0,2.5 seg 5 group ‘my_pile’
; this will attempt to join nodes pf ‘my_pile’ to any other structural element
; nodes at the same location
struct node join range group ‘my_pile’
I also have beam elements on all vertical sides of the model. These beam elements are being modeled as wire mesh. However, I just want to link between the pile and liner element (not with beam nodes). But, when I am joining the node, I can see that the link is created between the pile and beam as well as between the pile and liner.
In this case, you need to specify the target range as well. See modified example below
model new
block create brick -10 10
block densify
block zone gen edge 5
; make liner. Make sure to give it a group name
struct liner create by-block-face group ‘my_liner’ range pos-z 10
; make sure end of pile is at same location as a node on the liner
; or use SNAP
; make sure to give this a group name
struct pile create by-line 0,0,10 0,0,2.5 seg 5 group ‘my_pile’
; make another perpendicular pile
struct pile create by-line 0,0,10 5,0,10 seg 5 group ‘disconnected_pile’
; this will attempt to join nodes pf ‘my_pile’ to structural element
; nodes of ‘my_liner’
struct node join range-target group ‘my_liner’ range group ‘my_pile’
Hi Jim,
Thank you for your help. With your idea, I could connect the pile element’s end nodes with only the liner nodes. However, when running my model, I see a low axial force on the extreme left side of the pile element compared to the extreme right side (Figure 1). But, during the laboratory tests, I could see higher axial force on both ends of the rockbolt. Also, when I plotted the target link of the pile element, I could see that the connected nodes are structure nodes and all other nodes are 3DEC zones (Figure 2). Is it something that we need to change? Or do we need to apply some tension to these nodes (since we had bolts at the ends even though we didn’t put any tension on them during the lab tests), if so could you please provide an example?
I also tried to free these two nodes’ rotation and translational condition, but the 3DEC model automatically shuts off when I use the solve command. Here are the commands that I used for that:
*struct link attach rotation-x free range pos-x 0.499 0.501 pos-y 0.249 0.251 pos-z 0.249 0.251 *
struct link attach rotation-y free range pos-x 0.499 0.501 pos-y 0.249 0.251 pos-z 0.249 0.251
struct link attach rotation-z free range pos-x 0.499 0.501 pos-y 0.249 0.251 pos-z 0.249 0.251
struct link attach x free range pos-x 0.499 0.501 pos-y 0.249 0.251 pos-z 0.249 0.251
Thank you
Akash
The linking looks correct. I’m not sure why there are asymmetric forces. Please send your data file to 3decsupport@itascacg.com
