next up previous contents
Next: Homogeneous Conditions Up: Input deck format Previous: *BEAM SECTION   Contents


*BOUNDARY

Keyword type: step or model definition

This option is used to prescribe geometrical boundary conditions applied to the structure. This includes displacements and rotations in mechanical calculations, temperatures in heat transfer calculations and displacements, rotations and temperatures in thermomechanical calculations. Degree of freedom 1 represents translation in the local x-direction, 2 translation in the local y-direction, 3 translation in the local z-direction, 4 rotation about the local x-axis, 5 rotation about the local y-axis, 6 rotation about the local z-axis and 11 is the temperature degree of freedom. If no *TRANSFORM card applied to the node at stake, the local directions coincide with the global ones.

Optional parameters are OP, AMPLITUDE, TIME DELAY, LOAD CASE, USER, MASS FLOW and FIXED. OP can take the value NEW or MOD. OP=MOD is default and implies that previously prescribed displacements remain active in subsequent steps. Specifying a displacement in the same node and direction for which a displacement was defined in a previous step replaces this value. OP=NEW implies that previously prescribed displacements are removed. If multiple *BOUNDARY cards are present in a step this parameter takes effect for the first *BOUNDARY card only.

The AMPLITUDE parameter allows for the specification of an amplitude by which the boundary values are scaled (mainly used for nonlinear static and dynamic calculations). This only makes sense for nonzero boundary values. Thus, in that case the values entered on the *BOUNDARY card are interpreted as reference values to be multiplied with the (time dependent) amplitude value to obtain the actual value. At the end of the step the reference value is replaced by the actual value at that time. In subsequent steps this value is kept constant unless it is explicitly redefined or the amplitude is defined using TIME=TOTAL TIME in which case the amplitude keeps its validity.

The TIME DELAY parameter modifies the AMPLITUDE parameter. As such, TIME DELAY must be preceded by an AMPLITUDE name. TIME DELAY is a time shift by which the AMPLITUDE definition it refers to is moved in positive time direction. For instance, a TIME DELAY of 10 means that for time t the amplitude is taken which applies to time t-10. The TIME DELAY parameter must only appear once on one and the same keyword card.

The LOAD CASE parameter is only active in *STEADY STATE DYNAMICS calculations. LOAD CASE = 1 means that the loading is real or in-phase. LOAD CASE = 2 indicates that the load is imaginary or equivalently phase-shifted by $ 90 ^\circ$. Default is LOAD CASE = 1.

If the USER parameter is selected the boundary values are determined by calling the user subroutine uboun.f, which must be provided by the user. This applies to all nodes listed beneath the *BOUNDARY keyword. Any boundary values specified behind the degrees of freedom are not taken into account. If the USER parameter is selected, the AMPLITUDE parameter has no effect and should not be used.

The MASS FLOW parameter specifies that the *BOUNDARY keyword is used to define mass flow rates in convective problems. A mass flow rate can only be applied to the first degree of freedom of the midside node of fluid elements.

Finally, the FIXED parameter freezes the deformation from the previous step, or, if there is no previous step, sets it to zero.

A distinction is made whether the conditions are homogeneous (fixed conditions) or inhomogeneous (prescribed displacements).



Subsections
next up previous contents
Next: Homogeneous Conditions Up: Input deck format Previous: *BEAM SECTION   Contents
guido dhondt 2010-02-21