The Bolt Weld Connectors option allows you to create bar elements inside a hole which all connect to one node at the center. These are also named bolt spiders because of their appearance. It is important to put the bar elements which circle the hole into a part of their own, because connectors will be created from all the bars in the specified part. If hole curves are put into a separate part before surface meshing, hole bars will automatically be in a separate part from the rest. This is because when the surface mesher runs, bar elements are put in the same part as the curves they lie on. If the part is changed after surface meshing, the bar elements must also be changed in order for the bolt weld connectors to be created. The following options are available:
- Bolt hole name
A new part name for the bolt curves is automatically generated, starting with BOLT_CURVES0.
- Bolt curves
specifies the curves representing the bolt hole.
- Connector Part Name
specifies the part name for the connectors which is automatically generated, starting with BOLT_WELD0.
- Num quad rings
is the number of quad layers to mesh around the bolt curves. This is subject to the space available around the curves.
- Washer
Washers are represented by line (bar) elements and the thickness of the washer is represented by the quad layer(s) generated. The line elements will go from the inner and outer rings of the quad layer(s) to the center of the bolt hole to allow the load to get transferred from the bolt to both sides of the washer.
Note: To generate a washer at least one quad layer must be specified.
- Active
if disabled, the connector will not be created when remeshing.