Connector - General Spring

A general spring connects flat, nonflat, and concentric cylindrical faces. You can define up to six stiffness parameters to simulate the behavior of a general spring connector.

To define a General spring connector:

In the Simulation study tree, in the Simulation study tree, right-click Connections , and select General Spring .

The general spring connector is available with SOLIDWORKS Simulation Professional and SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium. Studies that support this feature include Static, Frequency, Linear Dynamic, and Buckling studies.

The feature is not available for Nonlinear studies.

Type

Face for Component 1 Select a face of a shell or solid body.
Face for Component 2 Select a face of a shell or solid body.

Options

Units Defines the units for the spring stiffness values.
Select a Coordinate System Select a local coordinate system to define the lateral and bending stiffnesses relative to the Y- and Z- directions of an orthotropic spring.

The axial direction of the spring coincides with the x-axis of the local coordinate system.

A local coordinate system is not required for a transversely isotropic spring with identical lateral stiffnesses and bending stiffnesses in the Y- and Z- directions.
  Transversely isotropic stiffness

Define up to four stiffness parameters.

For a transversely isotropic spring, you define one lateral stiffness and one bending stiffness.
Axial stiffness Sets the spring's stiffness in the axial direction.

Axial stiffness measures the spring's resistance to deformation along its axis.
Lateral stiffness in Y-dir Sets the spring's stiffness in the local Y- direction.

Lateral stiffness measures the resistance of the spring to lateral deformation.
Lateral stiffness in Z-dir Sets the spring's stiffness in the local Z- direction.
Torsional stiffness

Sets the spring's torsional stiffness.

Torsional stiffness measures the resistance to twisting caused by a force or torque.
Bending stiffness about Y-dir Sets the spring's bending stiffness about the local Y- direction.

Bending stiffness measures the resistance of the spring to lateral bending.
Bending stiffness about Z-dir Sets the spring's bending stiffness about the local Z- direction.
  Compression preload force Applies an initial compressive force along the axial direction of the spring.
  Tension preload force Applies an initial tensile force along the axial direction of the spring.

Symbol Settings

  Edit Color Select a color for the spring symbol.
Symbol size Use the spin arrows to control the size of the spring symbol.
  Show preview Turns on and off the display of the connector symbol in the graphics area.
  • After running a simulation with general spring connectors, plot the deformed shape with a scale factor of 1.0 to ensure that no interference exists between components. When interference occurs, the results are not valid. In case of interference, define the contact conditions between the interfering faces and rerun the simulation.
  • When listing spring connector forces, a negative axial force indicates a spring in compression, whereas a positive axial force indicates a spring in tension.
  • The general spring does not support large displacement solutions.