How to define no tension spring in FX and in meshedit

For example to create springs with 0 N/m in tension a 1000 N/m in compression the following steps will be required. This is a two stage process.

1st stage - In FX + Springs are assigned on a node basis,

MESH -> ELEMENT -> Create 1 node element

(Select Nodes you want the springs to be associated with)

Create a 0D Spring/Dashpot (SP1TR) (For translation I will assume)

Assign the spring stiffness as 0 N/m (No tension) and direction normally (x,y,z) (0,0,1)

Create a dummy material. (spring_mat)

And click OK

One node elements should now be created, these are your springs.

2nd Stage - For the compression stiffness you will need to assign a loading diagram, this is done in Mesh Edit.

In Mesh edit under materials folder, you should have a material property called spring_mat. Here you need to assign the spring loading diagram.

Three properties need to be defined for this, these are –

SPRING – Spring Stiffness – 1000

NUMSPR – Number of Springs – 2

ORDER – Order of Loading – 1 2 1

I hope this helps, please make sure I have got the order correct, this may need to be swapped.

Regards Tom