Once you have addressed the material properties and part behavior of your model, you may need to apply connections to the bodies in the model so that they are connected as a unit in sustaining the applied loads for analysis. Available connection features are:
Contacts: defines where two bodies are in contact or a user manually defines contact between two bodies.
Joints: a contact condition in the application that is defined by a junction where bodies are joined together that has rotational and translational degrees of freedom.
Mesh Connections: used to join the meshes of topologically disconnected surface bodies that reside in different parts.
Springs: defines as an elastic element that connects two bodies or a body to "ground" that maintains its original shape once the specified forces are removed.
Bearings: are used to confine relative motion and rotation of a rotating machinery part.
Beam Connections: used to establish body to body or body to ground connections.
End Releases are used to release degrees of freedoms at a vertex shared by two or more edges of one or more line bodies.
Spot Welds: connects individual surface body parts together to form surface body model assemblies.
Given the complex nature of bodies coming into contact with one another, especially if the bodies are in motion, it is recommended that you review the Connections section of the documentation.