DISCRETE ELEMENT WITH FLEXIBLE CONNECTOR FOR DYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF 3-D BEAM STRUCTURES

Combined multi-body dynamics with structural dynamics, a new discrete element with flexible connector, which is applicable for 3-D beam stru ctures, is developed in this paper. Both the generalized elastic coeff icient matrix of the flexible connector and the mass matrix of discret e element may be off-diagonal in a general case. The zero-length rigid element is introduced to simulate the node at which multiple elements are jointed together. It may also be effective when the axes of adjac ent elements are not in the same line. The examples for eigenvalue cal culation show that the model is successful. It can be extended to the geometric nonlinear response analysis.