The pin is internally represented by:
- Connecting the faces with springs of specified axial and rotational
stiffness.
- Defining relative axial movement based on the axial force that develops in
the joint and the axial stiffness
You can select With retaining ring (No Translation) to prevent axial
movement.
- Defining relative rotational movement based on the moment that develops in
the joint and the rotational stiffness
You can select With key (No Rotation) to prevent rotational
movement.
When defining pin connectors:
- All faces defining the pin remain coaxial under loading and maintain their
original shape. They can move as rigid bodies relative to each other depending on the axial
and rotational stiffness characteristics of the pin connector.
- If the contact faces are initially coincident, you must add a contact set
between those faces to prevent bonding.
- Due to introduction of rigid regions, the stresses near the area of the
pin may not be accurate. The effect decreases gradually until it practically disappears in
regions about 1 diameter away from the cylindrical faces. For more accurate modeling of the
pin, you need to create the pin and specify proper contact conditions.
- When viewing results, you should plot the deformed shape with a scale
factor of 1.0 to ensure no interference between components. When interference occurs, the
results are not valid. You must define contact conditions between the interfering faces
before rerunning the study.
- When listing pin forces, the solver computes the force and moment values
with respect to the centroid of the selected cylindrical surfaces (defined in
Cylindrical Faces/Edges in Connector- Pin
PropertyManager).