Virtual Connector Bushing

Define directional stiffness and inertia coefficients.

A bushing is a type of vibration isolator that allows only a certain amount of movement. Bushings in SimSolid can be defined between two parts or between a single part and the ground. They are defined using directional stiffness and inertia. SimSolid supports zero, finite, and rigid stiffness.
Note: SimSolid does not support damping.

All bushing properties are defined with respect to a bushing reference coordinate system. X,Y axis of the reference coordinate system are defined using unit vectors.

Virtual connectors create perfectly rigid boundaries, stresses along the boundary faces can have local concentrations.

  1. On the Project Tree, click on the Connections workbench
  2. On the Connections workbench, select > Bushing.
  3. In the Virtual connector dialog, use the radio buttons to select Bushing type.
  4. Under Apply to, select whether to apply to Face or Spot.
  5. In the modeling window, select parts on the model.
  6. Optional: If applying to Spots, you can create new spots by clicking Create new spot.
  7. Define coordinate axis of the bushing.
    1. Click the Coordinate system tab.
    2. The origin is set in COG by default. To edit the coordinates, uncheck the Set in COG checkbox and specify values for the X, Y, and Z fields.
    3. Use the radio buttons to specify Axis.
    4. Enter values for the X, Y, and Z direction.
  8. Specify stiffness.
    1. Click on the Stiffness tab.
    2. In the text boxes, enter values for Linear X, Y, and Z.
    3. Enter values for Angular X, Y, and Z.
  9. Specify inertia.
    1. Click the Inertia tab.
    2. Specify a value for Mass in the text box.
    3. Under inertia moments, specify values for X, Y, and Z.
  10. Click OK.
    The virtual connector will appear in the Connections branch. If selected, you will see vectors representing the connection in the modeling window.