5.1 Adding models and links

To couple and decouple components, you have to recreate the assembly in the Design Area, by adding components, linking the interfaces, and adding stiffness and loads. You can also perform variation studies, to evaluate different variants of components, loads and links. The idea behind the Design Area is to allow you to visualize the assembly in the simplest possible way. For this reason, we have decided to leave out all the complexity of the 3D to let you work with a simpler but effective 2D environment.

Adding components and loads

You need to add all component substructures of your assembly in the design area. Components can be generated either from tests or simulations. If desired, you cal also add lodas, such as Blocked Forces.

To add components and loads to the design area, complete the next steps:

1. Open the fly-in library.
2. Drag and drop the component or load to the design area.

Rigidly coupling interfaces

To rigidly connect components, you need to add links between their respective interfaces.

To create a rigid link between two interfaces, complete the next steps:

1. Click the link tool .
2. Click and hold on the first interface.
3. Release on the second interface.

Creating stiffness and rigid body models

In the Create section, you can create stiffness and rigid body models. This is useful when you do not have models available, but you want to evaluate how they would affect the final assembly. In COUPLE you can define rigid body models by specifying their physical properties such as mass, moment of inertia, offset of center of mass or create synthetic stiffness models.

Creating a constant stiffness model

If you do not already have a stiffness model, you can create a constant stiffness model in the stiffness model builder and place it to the desired link. By doing this, the stiffness model gets added to the library. The stiffness model builder allows you to add stiffness and damping between any pair of interface DoFs (including cross stiffness).

To create a synthetic stiffness model, complete the next steps:

1. Go to Create in the fly-in library
2. Drag and drop the Constant Stiffness block to the desired link.
3. Rename the constant stiffness model
4. Select the correct interfaces DoFs.
5. Type values for Stiffness and Damping.
6. Click Add.

Adding an existing stiffness model

To add an existing stiffness model to a link, complete the next steps:

1. Create a link between two interfaces.
2. Drag and drop a stiffness model on the link.

Creating rigid body models

You can create rigid body models by adding a point mass and inertia tensor with an offset to the center of the mass. This is useful, for example to:

• Add mass points to reduce or modify the dynamic response of the system.
• Model transmission simulators for decoupling from the component or assembly.
• Model simple structures that behave as rigid bodies within the frequency range of interest.
• Combine with stiffness models to include a Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) for attenuating dynamic response.

To create a rigid body model, complete the next steps:

1. Go to Create in the fly-in library.
2. Drag and drop the Mass block to the design area.
3. Rename the mass model.
4. Type the desired values for mass, mass moment of inertia and offset (if desired).
5. Click Add.