Connector plastic behavior

Connector plasticity in Abaqus:

  • can be used to model plastic/irreversible deformations of parts forming an actual connection device; for example,

    • the pin or the sleeve in a door hinge may deform plastically if the forces/moments acting on them are large enough;

    • connection elements in automotive suspension systems may deform irreversibly due to abusive loading; or

    • spot welds in a car frame and rivets in an airplane could undergo inelastic deformations if the forces acting on the structural members they are a part of are larger than intended;

  • is defined in terms of resultant forces and moments in the connector;

  • uses perfect plasticity or isotropic/kinematic hardening behavior models;

  • can be used when rate-dependent effects are important;

  • can be specified in any connectors with available components of relative motion;

  • can be used for available components of relative motion for which either elastic or rigid behavior was specified;

  • can be used in an uncoupled fashion to define elastic-plastic or rigid plastic response in individual available components of relative motion; and

  • can be used to specify coupled elastic-plastic or rigid plastic behavior, in which case the responses in several available components of relative motion are involved simultaneously in a coupled fashion to define plasticity effects.

To define connector plasticity in Abaqus, the following are necessary:

  • the elastic or rigid behavior prior to the onset of plasticity;

  • a yield function upon which plastic flow will be initiated; and

  • hardening behavior to define the initial yield value and, optionally, the yield value evolution after plastic motion initiation.

The following topics are discussed:

Related Topics
About connectors
Connector behavior
Connector elastic behavior
Connector functions for coupled behavior
In Other Guides
*CONNECTOR BEHAVIOR
*CONNECTOR DERIVED COMPONENT
*CONNECTOR ELASTICITY
*CONNECTOR HARDENING
*CONNECTOR PLASTICITY
*CONNECTOR POTENTIAL
Defining plasticity

ProductsAbaqus/StandardAbaqus/ExplicitAbaqus/CAE