Summary of Connectors

Connector Type Study Type Geometric Entities Reference Geometry Type Required Input
Bearing Static, buckling, frequency, and dynamic Cylindrical faces and circular shell edges N/A Rigid or flexible (lateral and axial stiffnesses)
Bolt Static and nonlinear Bolt faces, nut faces, and cylindrical faces of the holes. Entities can be from one or different components. For a grounded bolt, select a reference plane. Elastic modulus and Poisson's Ratio of the bolt material, and the shank diameter.
Edge Weld Static, buckling, frequency, and dynamic Set1: Face of a shell or sheet metal body Set2: Face of a shell, sheet metal, or solid body N/A Material for the electrode with predefined weld strength
Elastic Support Static and buckling Faces of solids of a part or assembly N/A Normal and tangential stiffnesses
Link Static, buckling, frequency, dynamic, and nonlinear Two vertices or reference points from different components Reference points N/A
Pin Static, buckling, frequency, dynamic, and nonlinear Coaxial (full or partial) cylindrical faces and edges from shell surfaces. Entities can be from one or two different components. N/A Axial stiffness if the pin can translate, and tangential stiffness if the pin can rotate.
Rigid Static, buckling, frequency, dynamic, and nonlinear Faces of solids from different components. N/A N/A
Spot Welds Static, buckling, frequency, and dynamic Two shell faces or a solid face and a shell face. Reference points Spot weld diameter
Spring Static, buckling, frequency, dynamic, and nonlinear Planar parallel faces, concentric cylindrical faces from different components. Two vertices or reference points from one, or two different components. For nonlinear studies, you can only select vertices or reference points to define a Spring. Reference points for point-to-point spring Normal and tangential stiffnesses
Spring Damper Modal time history Two vertices or reference points from one, or two different components. Reference points Axial, lateral, rotational stiffnesses and coefficient of viscous damping