Connectors and Attachments

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create and review different kinds of connectors and attachments.

Before you begin, copy the file(s) used in this tutorial to your working directory.

In this tutorial you will:

Update Point Connector Control

In this step, you will update the point connector control with spotweld material and beam property.

Start HyperMesh.
From the menu bar, click File > Solver Interface and verify the LS-DYNA Interface is selected.
From the menu bar, click File > Open > HyperMesh Model.
Browse to your working directory, select bumper_beam_connectors.hm, and click Open.
The model opens in the modeling window.
Figure 1.
From the Model Browser, double-click on Include Files to open the Include Browser.
From the Include Browser, right-click on Main Model and select Make Current from the context menu.
From the Connectors ribbon, select the Controls tool to open the Connector Control Manager dialog.

Figure 2.
From the Connector Control Manager dialog, select connectorcontrol1.
From the Property and Material section, click the Material field and then .
From the Select Material dialog, select MATL100_200000 and click OK.
From the Property and Material section of the Connector Control Manager, click the Property field and then .
From the Select Property dialog, select SECTION_SW_5.0 mm and click OK.

Figure 3.
Exit the Connector Control Manager dialog.

From the Connectors ribbon, select the Connectors tool.

Figure 4.
From the Connector Browser, open the Point tab.
Select all connectors in the list.

Figure 5.
With all the connectors selected, right-click in the Connector Browser and select Realize from the context menu.
From the Include Browser, navigate to *CONTACT_TIED_SHELL_EDGE_TO_SURFACE under Main Model > Groups.

Figure 6.

Tip: Click to expand the sub-menus under Main Model and Groups.
Right-click *CONTACT_TIED_SHELL_EDGE_TO_SURFACE and select Review from the context menu.

Figure 7.
Right-click *CONTACT_TIED_SHELL_EDGE_TO_SURFACE and select Review from the context menu again to switch back to the previous visualization.

In this step, you will create rigid patches attachments between the bumper beam and crash boxes.

From the Connectors ribbon, select the Attachment tool.

Figure 8.
From the guide bar, click .
Set Selection to Automatic.
From the guide bar, click Parts to open the drop-down menu and select Components.

Figure 9.
From the guide bar, click to open the Select Components dialog.
From the Select Components dialog, select Bumper_Beam, Crashbox_cap_R, and Crashbox_cap_L and click OK.
From the guide bar, click Undefined to open the drop-down menu and select attachmentcontrol1.
From the guide bar, click to apply the attachment and close the tool.
From the Assembly ribbon, select the Parts tool to open the Part Browser.

Figure 10.
From the Part Browser, select each rigidpatch_comp-ae component under Crashbox_R, Crashbox_L, and Bumper_Beam as shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11.
In the Part Browser, right-click and select Review from the context menu.
In the Part Browser, right-click and select Review from the context menu again to switch back to the previous visualization.

From the Connectors ribbon, select the Connect tool.

Figure 12.
From the guide bar, click .
Select Link Detection and configure the settings.
1. Verify Detection is set to Manual.
2. Verify Tolerance is set to 25.
3. Set Maximum Angle to 60.
Figure 13.
In the modeling window, press Control > A to select all attachments in the model.
From the guide bar, click Undefined to open the drop-down menu and select connectorcontrol2.
From the guide bar, click .
From the Include Browser, navigate to *CONSTRAINED_RIGID_BODIES under Main Model > Constrained Rigid Bodies.
Right-click *CONSTRAINED_RIGID_BODIES and select Review from the context menu.

Figure 14.
Right-click *CONSTRAINED_RIGID_BODIES and select Review from the context menu again to switch back to the previous visualization.