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*DISTRIBUTING COUPLING

Keyword type: model definition

This option is used to apply loading (force or displacement) on a set of nodes in a global sense. There is one required parameter: ELSET. With the parameter ELSET an element set is referred to, which should contain exacty one element of type DCOUP3D. This type of element contains only one node, which is taken as the reference node of the distributing coupling. This node should not be used elsewhere in the model. In particular, it should not belong to any element. The coordinates of this node are immaterial. The distributing coupling forces or the distributing coupling displacements should be applied to the reference node with a *CLOAD card or a *BOUNDARY card, respectively.

Underneath the keyword card the user can enter the nodes on which the load is to be distributed, together with a weight. Internally, for each coordinate direction a multiple point constraint is generated between these nodes with the weights as coefficients. The last term in the equation is the reference node with as coefficient the negative of the sum of all weights.

First line:

- *DISTRIBUTING COUPLING
- Enter the ELSET parameter and its value

Following line:

- Node number or node set
- Weight

Repeat this line if needed.

    Example:

    *DISTRIBUTING COUPLING,ELSET=E1
    3,1.
    100,1.
    51,1.
    428,1.
    *ELSET,ELSET=E1
    823
    *ELEMENT,TYPE=DCOUP3D
    823,4000

defines a distributing coupling between the nodes 3, 100, 51 and 428, each with weight 1. The reference node is node 4000. A point force of 10 in direction 1 can be applied to this distributing coupling by the cards:

    *CLOAD
    4000,1,10.

while a displacement of 0.5 is obtained with

    *BOUNDARY
    4000,1,1,0.5

Example files: distcoup.

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