2 docs tagged with "links"

At times there are very stiff sections in a model and generally it is not good to model these simply by creating very stiff elements as this can lead to ill-conditioning problems. It is better to replace the elements in these regions with link elements or rigid constraints. The action of link elements and rigid constraints is substantially the same, the main difference being that a rigid constraint can include many nodes while a link element can only include two nodes, but has some additional linkage options.

A link is unlike other elements in that it does not have stiffness, instead it created a constraint condition between the two ends of the element. The behaviour of a link element is like a rigid constraint with just two nodes. Degrees of freedom that are not linked have no connection at all.