A general spring connects flat, nonflat, concentric cylindrical faces, or
spherical faces. You can define up to six stiffness parameters to simulate the behavior of a
general spring connector.
The general spring connector is available with SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Professional and SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium. Studies that support this feature
include Static, Frequency, Buckling, and Linear Dynamic studies.
The general spring connector uses distributed coupling to establish an
enhanced spring connector formulation between two surfaces. A distributed coupling
formulation establishes two reference nodes of the spring at the point of interaction,
which is located midpoint between the centroids of the two surfaces. Distributed
coupling constrains the motion of the coupling nodes to the translation and rotation of
the referenced nodes. Distributed coupling allows the coupling nodes on the selected
surfaces to move relative to each other.
To accurately represent a general spring, you can define up to six stiffness
parameters with a local coordinate system.
Align the X-axis of the
local coordinate system to the spring's axial direction.
You do not need to define a local coordinate system when specifying a
transversely isotropic spring. The axial direction of the spring aligns to the vector
normal to the selected surfaces.