Modeling a contact with a plane can be handled in SAP2000 using gap elements and time history analysis with large displacements. Please refer to the below description for developing a model of a sphere sphere dropping onto a flexible deck.
- Develop the model of the sphere and the deck using traditional modeling.
- Connect the deck and the sphere with gap links. The contacting joints need to align exactly and therefore this was done using a perfectly symmetrical model. Using gap elements enables to model the displacement of the deck as it contacts the sphere.
- Run a nonlinear direct-integration analysis that suddenly ramps up gravity load. Large-displacements is required. Include some stiffness- and mass-proportional damping. Hilber-Hughes-Taylor alpha < 0. Use fairly small time-steps.
- When displaying the results, do not show the links.
Screenshots
See Also
Attachments
- Dropping ball video\ (Zipped AVI file, 3 MB)