Cable Properties

Cable properties are most useful for GsRelax non-linear analysis, where all the cable elements with the same property form a cable that is allowed to slide. Cable elements can also be used in the Gss solver where they are treated in the same way as ties.

Definition

Name

The name is only used as a convenient way of identifying a cable property.

Colour

See Specifying Colour of entities for more details

Type

Allows the cable property to be set to Normal or Sliding. Note that Sliding properties are only used in nonlinear analysis and are treated as Normal in other analyses. See Element Types for more details.

Stiffness

The stiffness of cables is specified directly rather than through the area and Young’s modulus, which are less clearly defined for cables. This stiffness is equivalent to AE (area × elastic modulus).

Mass

For gravity loading and dynamic analysis it is necessary to be able to associate a mass with cables. This is specified as a mass per unit length.

Temperature Coefficient

To allow for thermal effects in cables the temperature coefficient of expansion is required. Used in the same way as the temperature coefficient of expansion for beam and bar elements.

Damping Ratio

The damping ratio is used during a dynamic analysis to calculate an estimate of the modal damping ratio.