zeroLengthContact3D (or 2D)

[fbeckwit]

I'm looking to add friction to my model between the bridge superstructure and the abutments on which the deck rests. I was planning on using the zeroLengthContact element to do this but it complained that I had too many DOF's at the node in question.

The wiki states, "For 2D contact, slave nodes and master nodes must be 2 DOF. For 3D contact, slave nodes and master nodes must be 3 DOF." Does this mean that the node must be constrained to move in 3 directions only (translation DOFs) or does this imply that the entire domain must have only 3 DOF's (model BasicBuilder -ndm 3 -ndf 3)?

If anyone has experience using this element, any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[fmk]

it is the latter.

[megiddo]

For using 6DOF and 3DOF nodes together in the same code, you can use the example zip file provided in the following OpenSees wiki page:

http://opensees.berkeley.edu/wiki/index ... thImpact3D

[fbeckwit]

I saw that in some of your other posts. Thank you for the suggestion. I'll have to do some testing to make sure it works as intended in my abutment model (I also have several other zeroLength springs for modelling soil).