Geometric transformation for zero-length elements

[etahmasebi]

Hi,
When a zero-length element is defined there is an option named:

-orient $x1 $x2 $x3 $yp1 $yp2 $yp3

which takes care of axial orientation of the element (as the length is zero) as well as other two local axes. Now my question is: does a zero length element handles large deformations? (like the way the "Corotational Transformation" handles nodal displacements) Since there is no option for geometric transformation assignment to a zero-length element I was wondering how nodal coordinates are being handled during the analysis. Will they be updated after each analysis step?

Thanks

[vesna]

Yes, nodal coordinates are updated for each step of analysis following the uni axial materials assigned to it. You can not assign nonlinear geometric transformation to it as nodes are assumed to be at the same location.