Cable, Tie And Strut Elements

These elements are variants on the bar element. Cable and tie elements can carry only tensile forces, while strut elements can carry only compressive forces. The stiffness matrix for ties and struts is identical to that for a bar elements. The nonlinear aspect being part of the solver, solution process. The stiffness of cable elements is similar to a bar element but the $\frac{AE}{l}$is replaced by a stiffness term where the cable stiffness is

$$k_{cable} \equiv AE$$