25.5.

2017 RBE2vsRBE3

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RBE2vsRBE3

TwocommontypesofRigidBodyElements(RBEs)aretheRBE2andRBE3.TheybotharemultipointconstraintMPCelementsandcanbeincluded,ornot,inthecase
controlportionoftheBulkDataFile(BDF).BothRBE2sandRBE3sareoftenusedtoconnectonenodetoseveralnodes.Thiscanbedoneforseveralreasons,forexampleto
impartloadsontoamodelortoenforcearigidconnectionbetweentwonodes.RBE2formulationconsistsofoneindependentnodeandoneormoredependentnode(s).
ThisisshownbelowinaFEMAPscreenshotoftheRBE2formulation.ItisimportanttonotethatonthedependentnodesthemodelermayselectDOF(degreesoffreedom)TX
translationintheXdirection,TYtranslationintheYdirection,TZtranslationintheZdirection,RXrotationabouttheXaxis,RYrotationabouttheYaxis,andRZ
rotationabouttheZaxis.TheseDOFsapplytoallofthedependentnodeschosen.

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TheRBE3issimilarinthatitconnectsonenodetooneormorenode(s)howeveritallowsonedependentandoneormoreindependentnode(s).TheDOFsareselectableon
boththedependentandindependentnodesides.IndependentnodescanhaveseparateDOFsselectedthisisdifferentthantheRBE2Elementformulationwhereonlyoneset
ofDOFsisappliedtoalldependentnodes.InadditionthenodebynodeDOFselection,itisalsopossibletoweightnodeseffectivitywhichcanbeusefulifamorespecificnode
baseddistribution(ratherthangeometric)isrequired.

OneofthemostcommonusesfortheRBE3istosmearaloadintoastructure.TheRBE2imposestiffnessandareoftencalledinfinitelystiff,whiletheRBE3isan
interpolationelementanddoesnotimpartadditionalstiffnesstothemodel.

TohelpillustratethisdifferencebetweentheRBE2andtheRBE3considerthefollowingsimpleshelfmodel.Themodelisatwobayshelfandaverticalloadistobeimpartedin
thecenterareaofeachbay.

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TheleftsidebayoftheshelfismodeledandloadsareimpartedwithanRBE2whiletherightsideusesanRBE3.Thefootprintofeachmultipointconstraintisidentically
shapedandpositionedinitsbay.

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FEAShelfwithloadareahighlighted

ThebackedgeoftheshelfandthebackverticallegofthesupportsarefixedwhileatthesinglenodeineachRBEaverticalforceisapplied.

Thefollowingfigureshowsdisplacementaftertheanalysisiscompleted.NoticehowtheleftsidebaywasreinforcedfromtheaddedstiffnessoftheRBE2,whiletherightside
wasnot.

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Thiseffectisalsoapparentbyinvestigatingthestressesintheelements,asshownbelow:

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ItcanbeclearlyseenthefootprintundertheRBE2isstiffenedbytheformulationoftheRBE2.Neitherapplication,RBE2orRBE3,isrightorwrongitsimplydependsonwhat
theintentoftheanalysisis.TakeforexampletheRBE2,ontheleft,ifthedownforceisduetoaninertialloadofaboxontheshelfanRBE2isappropriateassumingtheboxis
stiffrelativetotheshelf.TheRBE3howeverismorelikeadeformablebodyloadingtheshelfbay.

2017

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