Dependency Panel

Use the Dependency panel to find nodes that have their degrees of freedom removed by a constraint or MPC (multiple point constraint) more than once. By identifying and correcting such dependencies prior to solving, solution errors can be avoided.

Location: Tool page

Figure 1. Before		Figure 2. After

Note: Nodes that have multiple constraints or MPCs are placed on the temporary node mark. However, nodes with multiple constraints or MPC's can cause solution errors in many solvers. Every situation should be evaluated and corrected accordingly. In the case of rigid elements, often swapping the independent and dependent nodes of the elements, or moving the constraints to the independent nodes, will correct the problem.

Panel Options

Option	Action
entity selector	Select the entities you wish to check for dependencies. Use the switch to change between components and elements. When you select elems, click the switch to change the selection mode. elems Select individual elements, or select all of the elements contained by a component or on a surface. Figure 3. Example: Elems Selection faces Select all of the elements on 2D and 3D faces. If there are discontinuities on a 2D face, then only the elements in between the discontinuities will be selected. Figure 4. Example: Faces Selection 2D faces ext Select all of the elements on a 2D face that contain discontinuities. Figure 5. Example: 2D Faces Ext Selection
dependency	Perform the check and highlight any nodes in the selected entities that have multiple constraints or MPC's.
face angle / individual selection	face angle Angle between the normal of facets that share an element edge. A facet can either be a shell element itself, or one of the faces of a solid element. The normal of triangular facets is that of the plane defined three corner vertices. Whereas, the normal of quadrilateral facets is calculated by taking the cross-product between its two diagonals. This special treatment for quadrilaterals is because a warped shape does not lie completely on a plane. individual selection Select individual elements on a face or select individual free/shared edges of elements.