MPC184-Screw


Multipoint Constraint Element: Screw Joint

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MPC184 Screw Joint Element Description

The MPC184 screw joint element is a two-node element which is very similar to the cylindrical joint element in construction. Whereas the cylindrical Joint element has two free relative degrees of freedom, the screw Joint has only one. In a screw joint, the "pitch" of the screw relates the relative rotation angle (around the cylindrical or screw axis) to the relative translational displacement along the axis of the screw. All other relative degrees of freedom are fixed.

Figure 184scr.1: MPC184 Screw Joint Geometry

MPC184 Screw Joint Geometry

MPC184 Screw Joint Input Data

Set KEYOPT(1) = 17 to define a two-node screw joint element.

Figure 184scr.1: MPC184 Screw Joint Geometry shows the geometry and node locations for this element. Two nodes (I and J) define the element.

A local Cartesian coordinate system must be specified at the first node, I, of the element. The local coordinate system specification at the second node is optional. The local coordinate systems specified at nodes I and J evolve with the rotations at the respective nodes. Use the SECJOINT command to specify the identifiers of the local coordinate systems. The e3 axes of the local coordinate systems specified at the nodes must align to form the axis of the screw joint.

Note that the SECJOINT command is issued twice for the screw joint element. The first SECJOINT command defines the local coordinate systems for the joint. The second SECJOINT command specifies the screw pitch that relates the relative rotation angle to the relative translational displacement along the axis of the screw.

The basic constraints imposed in a screw joint element are described below:

The constraint relating the relative rotational angle to the relative translational displacement along the axis is given by:

where p is the pitch of the screw defined as the ratio of relative axial displacement (length units) to the relative rotation (in radians) , ϕ is defined as:

and ϕ0 is defined in the reference configuration with the same expression given above.

The change in the relative position of the nodes I and J is given by:

where:

and is computed in the reference configuration using the same expression above.

The relative rotation between nodes I and J is given by:

The change in the relative angular position between the two local coordinate systems is given by:

where ϕ 0 is the initial angular offset between the two coordinate systems and m is an integer accounting for multiple rotations about the screw axis.

The constitutive calculations use the following definition of the joint displacement:

where:

= reference length specified on SECDATA command.

The constitutive calculations use the following definition of the joint rotation:

where:

= reference angle, angle3, specified on the SECDATA command. If this value is not specified, then Φ 0 is used in place of

Other input data that are common to all joint elements (material behavior, stops and limits, locks, etc.) are described in "Joint Input Data" in the MPC184 element description.

MPC184 Screw Joint Input Summary

This input summary applies to the screw joint element option of MPC184: KEYOPT(1) = 17.

Nodes

I, J


Note:  For a grounded joint element, specify either node I or node J in the element definition and leave the other node (the grounded node) blank.


Degrees of Freedom

UX, UY, UZ, ROTX, ROTY, ROTZ

Real Constants

None

Material Properties

Use the JOIN label on the TB command to define stiffness and damping. (See MPC184 Joint in the Material Reference for detailed information on defining joint materials.)

Surface Loads

None

Body Loads
Temperatures -- 

T(I), T(J)

Element Loads:
Displacements/Rotations -- 

UZ, ROTZ

Velocities -- 

VELZ, OMGZ

Accelerations -- 

ACCZ, DMGZ

Force/Moments -- 

FZ, MZ

Special Features
KEYOPT(1)

Element behavior:

17  -- 

Screw joint element

KEYOPT(2)

Element constraint imposition method:

0 -- 

Lagrange multiplier method (default)

1  -- 

Penalty-based method

MPC184 Screw Joint Output Data

The solution output associated with the element is in two forms:

These tables use the following notation:

A colon (:) in the Name column indicates the item can be accessed by the Component Name method (ETABLE, ESOL). The O column indicates the availability of the items in the file Jobname.out. The R column indicates the availability of the items in the results file.

In either the O or R columns, Y indicates that the item is always available, a number refers to a table footnote that describes when the item is conditionally available, and a - indicates that the item is not available.

Table 184scr.1: MPC184 Screw Joint Element Output Definitions

NameDefinitionOR
ELElement Number-Y
NODESElement node numbers (I, J)-Y
FXConstraint Force in X direction-Y
FYConstraint Force in Y direction-Y
MXConstraint Moment in X direction-Y
MYConstraint Moment in Y direction-Y
CSTOP3Constraint force if stop is specified on DOF 3-Y
CSTOP6Constraint moment if stop is specified on DOF 6-Y
CLOCK3Constraint force if lock is specified on DOF 3-Y
CLOCK6Constraint moment if lock is specified on DOF 6-Y
CSST3Constraint stop status on DOF 3[1]-Y
CLST3Constraint lock status on DOF 3[2]-Y
CSST6Constraint stop status on DOF 6[1]-Y
CLST6Constraint lock status on DOF 6[2]-Y
JRP3Joint relative position of DOF 3-Y
JRP6Joint relative position of DOF 6-Y
JCD3Joint constitutive displacement on DOF 3-Y
JCD6Joint constitutive rotation on DOF 6-Y
JEF3Joint elastic force in direction -3-Y
JEF6Joint elastic moment in direction -6-Y
JDF3Joint damping force in direction -3-Y
JDF6Joint damping moment in direction -6-Y
JRU3Joint relative displacement of DOF 3-Y
JRU6Joint relative rotation of DOF 6-Y
JRV3Joint relative velocity of DOF 3 -Y
JRV6Joint relative rotational velocity of DOF 6-Y
JRA3Joint relative acceleration of DOF 3-Y
JRA6Joint relative rotational acceleration of DOF 6-Y
JTEMPAverage temperature in the element[3]-Y

  1. Constraint stop status:

    0 = stop not active, or deactivated
    1 = stopped at minimum value
    2 = stopped at maximum value
  2. Constraint lock status:

    0 = lock not active
    1 = locked at minimum value
    2 = locked at maximum value
  3. Average temperature in the element when temperatures are applied on the nodes of the element using the BF command, or when temperature are applied on the element using the BFE command.

The following table shows additional non-summable miscellaneous (NMISC) output available for all forms of the screw joint element.


Note:  This output is intended for use in the Ansys Workbench program to track the evolution of local coordinate systems specified at the nodes of joint elements.


Table 184scr.2: MPC184 Screw Joint Element - NMISC Output

NameDefinitionOR
The following output is available for all screw joint elements (KEYOPT(4) = 0 and 1)
E1X-I, E1Y-I, E1Z-IX, Y, Z components of the evolved e1 axis at node I-Y
E2X-I, E2Y-I, E2Z-IX, Y, Z components of the evolved e2 axis at node I-Y
E3X-I, E3Y-I, E3Z-IX, Y, Z components of the evolved e3 axis at node I-Y
E1X-J, E1Y-J, E1Z-JX, Y, Z components of the evolved e1 axis at node J-Y
E2X-J, E2Y-J, E2Z-JX, Y, Z components of the evolved e2 axis at node J-Y
E3X-J, E3Y-J, E3Z-JX, Y, Z components of the evolved e3 axis at node J-Y
JFX, JFY, JFZConstraint forces expressed in the evolved coordinate system specified at node I-Y
JMX, JMY, JMZConstraint moments expressed in the evolved coordinate system specified at node I-Y

Table 184scr.3: MPC184 Screw Joint Item and Sequence Numbers - SMISC Items and Table 184scr.4: MPC184 Screw Joint Item and Sequence Numbers - NMISC Items list output available via the ETABLE command using the Sequence Number method. See The General Postprocessor (POST1) in the Basic Analysis Guide and The Item and Sequence Number Table for further information. The table uses the following notation:

Name

output quantity as defined in the Element Output Definitions table.

Item

predetermined Item label for ETABLE command

E

sequence number for single-valued or constant element data

Table 184scr.3: MPC184 Screw Joint Item and Sequence Numbers - SMISC Items

Output Quantity Name ETABLE and ESOL Command Input
ItemE
FXSMISC1
FYSMISC2
MXSMISC4
MYSMISC5
CSTOP3SMISC9
CSTOP6SMISC12
CLOCK3SMISC15
CLOCK6SMISC18
CSST3SMISC21
CSST6SMISC24
CLST3SMISC27
CLST6SMISC30
JRP3SMISC33
JRP6SMISC36
JCD3SMISC39
JCD6SMISC42
JEF3SMISC45
JEF6SMISC48
JDF3SMISC51
JDF6SMISC54
JRU3SMISC63
JRU6SMISC66
JRV3SMISC69
JRV6SMISC72
JRA3SMISC75
JRA6SMISC78
JTEMPSMISC79

Table 184scr.4: MPC184 Screw Joint Item and Sequence Numbers - NMISC Items

Output Quantity Name ETABLE and ESOL Command Input
ItemE
E1X-INMISC1
E1Y-INMISC2
E1Z-INMISC3
E2X-INMISC4
E2Y-INMISC5
E2Z-INMISC6
E3X-INMISC7
E3Y-INMISC8
E3Z-INMISC9
E1X-JNMISC10
E1Y-JNMISC11
E1Z-JNMISC12
E2X-JNMISC13
E2Y-JNMISC14
E2Z-JNMISC15
E3X-JNMISC16
E3Y-JNMISC17
E3Z-JNMISC18
JFXNMISC19
JFYNMISC20
JFZNMISC21
JMXNMISC22
JMYNMISC23
JMZNMISC24

MPC184 Screw Joint Assumptions and Restrictions

  • Boundary conditions cannot be applied on the nodes forming the screw joint.

  • Rotational degrees of freedom are activated at the nodes forming the element. When these elements are used in conjunction with solid elements, the rotational degrees of freedom must be suitably constrained. Since boundary conditions cannot be applied to the nodes of the screw joint, a beam or shell element with very weak stiffness may be used with the underlying solid elements at the nodes forming the joint element to avoid any rigid body modes.

  • The pitch of the screw joint is defined as the ratio of relative axial displacement (length units) to relative rotation (in radians). The relative rotation is expressed in radians and not as number of revolutions; therefore, the Mechanical APDL definition for the pitch of a screw joint differs from some commonly used definitions for pitch.

  • If both stops and locks are specified, then lock specification takes precedence; that is, if the degree of freedom is locked at a given value, then it will remain locked for the rest of the analysis.

  • In a nonlinear analysis, the components of relative motion are accumulated over all the substeps. It is essential that the substep size be restricted such that these rotations in a given substep are less than π for the values to be accumulated correctly.

  • The relative rotation and relative translation degrees of freedom for this joint are not independent. Loads or boundary conditions (applied with the FJ or DJ command) can be specified on only one of these two relative degrees of freedom, while the other relative degree of freedom is automatically defined via the constraint equations of the element.

  • The element currently does not support birth or death options.

  • For the Lagrange multiplier element formulation (KEYOPT(2) = 0), the equation solver (EQSLV) must be the sparse solver. Either the sparse or the PCG solver can be used with penalty-based element formulation (KEYOPT(2) = 1).

  • Lagrange multiplier-based joint elements (KEYOPT(2) = 0) and penalty-based joint elements (KEYOPT(2) = 1) cannot be connected to each other.

  • The element coordinate system (/PSYMB,ESYS) is not relevant.

MPC184 Screw Joint Product Restrictions

None.