Problem with Zero-length Element

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lindaatik
Posts: 18
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2007 3:02 pm

Problem with Zero-length Element

Post by lindaatik »

Hi,

I am having trouble analyzing my problem. I have a ndm2, ndf2 soil mesh and I am trying to place a beam element on top of the soil simulating a foundation and connecting the beam nodes to the soil nodes by springs. The beam element has ndm2 and ndf3, so I am using dummy nodes to connect the beam nodes to the soil nodes. The dummy nodes have ndm2 and ndf2, they have equalDOF with the beam nodes in dof 1 and 2 and then they are connected to the soil nodes by zero-length elements.
I cannot see anything wrong with what I am doing, yet when I try to run it, the analysis fails.
Could you please help me find the problem? I am attaching my code.
Thanks

Code: Select all

# SET UP ----------------------------------------------------------
wipe all;						
source Units.tcl;					
# Define PARAMETERS------------------------------------------------
set gravY [expr -9.81*1691];	
set gravX 0;                    	                    	
                    	
# BUILD Soil Model-------------------------------------------------
# BUILD model

model basic -ndm 2 -ndf 2;

######## drained, pressure depend ####################
####### $tag  $nd  $rho  $refShear $Bulk  $frictionAng $peakShearStra $refP $pCoef
########## $PTAng  $contrac  $dilat1  $dilat2  $liqfac1   $liqfac2   $liqfac3 #######
nDMaterial PressureDependMultiYield 1 2 1691 1.0e8 3.0e8 35 0.1 [expr 80*$kPa] 0.5 \
                                        27.0 0.05 0.6 3 0.0 0.015 1.0; 
updateMaterialStage -material 1 -stage 0;   

# Define GEOMETRY ----------------------------------------------

# Soil nodal coordinates:
node 1 0 0;
node 2 1 0;
node 3 1 2;
node 4 0 2;

# Constraints
fix 1 1 1;
fix 2 1 1;

# Soil quad elements 
element quad 1 1 2 3 4 0.3048 "PlaneStrain" 1 $press $rho_s $gravX $gravY;

# Input beam nodes and elements----------------------------------

set Estiff 1.e10;

# generate beam nodes that have the same coordinates as the top soil nodes 
model BasicBuilder -ndm 2 -ndf 3;
node 103 1 2;
node 104 0 2;

# generate spring contact nodes and spring elements 
model BasicBuilder -ndm 2 -ndf 2;
uniaxialMaterial Elastic 2 $Estiff;
node 1003 1 2;
equalDOF 1003 103 1 2;	# equal dof bt the beam node and the dummy node
element zeroLength 2 3 1003 -mat 2 -dir 2;	

uniaxialMaterial Elastic 3 $Estiff;
node 1004 0 2;
equalDOF 1004 104 1 2;	# equal dof bt the beam node and the dummy node
element zeroLength 3 4 1004 -mat 3 -dir 2;	

# Add beam elements 
model BasicBuilder -ndm 2 -ndf 3;
set Bmat [expr 22.86*0.001*36.0];
set PlaneStrainWidth 12*$in;
set Amat [expr $Bmat*$PlaneStrainWidth];
set Imat [expr $PlaneStrainWidth*$Bmat*$Bmat*$Bmat/12];
set Ea [expr 7.0e7*$kPa];
set BeamTransfTag 1;
geomTransf Linear $BeamTransfTag;

element elasticBeamColumn 4 104 103 $Amat $Ea $Imat $BeamTransfTag;  

# Define and Apply soil+wall GRAVITY load (elastic)----------------------------

# Rezero time and wipe previous analysis objects
setTime 0.0;
loadConst;	
wipeAnalysis;

# Recorder for nodal displacement
eval "recorder Node -file Output/disp2.out  -time -node all -dof 1 2 disp";

# Create the SOE, ConstraintHandler, Integrator, Algorithm and Numberer
system BandGeneral;
test NormDispIncr 4.e-4 50 1;	## should be 1.e-4
algorithm ModifiedNewton;
constraints Transformation; 	#Transformation		### WHY????
integrator LoadControl $lf_sw 1 $lf_sw $lf_sw;
numberer RCM;
analysis Static ;
analyze 1;
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