Concentration of support forces

Help Grasshopper
1

Hi!

I have modelled a column consisting of 4 diagonal elements with stiffening elements between these. As for now, they are modelled with rigid supports at the end of the diagonal elements. However, I would like to center the supports in the middle so that I concentrate the forces to one single point (marked as a red cross). Does anybody have a suggestion for how I should solve this?

image
image631×690 12.6 KB

2

Hi @perbhagen! :waving_hand:

You can use the Point connection feature:

image
image1798×1276 334 KB

image
image279×1012 37.4 KB

Alternatively, open the Grasshopper package of the FEM-Design API and search for the PointConnection component in the Modelling Tools tab.

image
image805×495 97.2 KB

1 Like
3

This is great! Thank you so much, @anLor !

A couple of more questions:

What are the definitions of MasterPoint and SlavePoint?

Is it correct to assign an extremely high motion and rotation stiffness (this is default) and keeping it as rigid? My thought was that this is correct since it should concentrate all forces from the four points.

4

In FEM-Design, Master and Slave points are typically used to create rigid or flexible connections (like constraints or hinges) between different structural elements without modeling actual physical connections. The Master acts as the controlling point, and the Slave acts as the following point.

Key Concepts

  • Master Point: The primary or controlling node in a connection. The movements (displacements and rotations) of this point dictate how the connected slave points behave.
  • Slave Point: The secondary node. Its movement is directly restricted or controlled by the Master point.
  • Analogy: Think of a puppet. The Master is the hand moving the strings, and the Slave is the puppet’s arm that moves exactly how the hand dictates.

My recomendation is to compare the model with and without the point connections. If they perform equally, then your modelling hypothesis is correct :slight_smile: