GENEL

Bulk Data Entry

GENEL – General Finite Element

Description

Defines the stiffness or flexibility of a general element connected to an arbitrary number of grids.

Format

(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)	(8)	(9)	(10)
GENEL	EID		GI1	CI1	GI2	CI2	GI3	CI3
	GI4	CI4	GI5	CI5	-etc.-
	“UD”		GD1	CD1	GD2	CD2	GD3	CD3
	GD4	CD4	GD5	CD5	-etc.-
	“K” or “Z”	KZ11	KZ12	KZ13	-etc.-	KZ21	KZ22	-etc.-
	KZ31	KZ32	-etc.-
	“S”	S11	S12	S13	-etc.-	S21	S22	-etc.-
	S31	S32	-etc.-

(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)	(8)	(9)	(10)
GENEL	537		1001	1	1001	2	1001	3
	1002	1	1002	2	1002	3
	K	5757.	-816.6	-43.1	-5757.	816.6	43.1	35479.3
	-1151.	816.6	-35479.3	1151.	6538.6	43.1	1151.	-6538.6
	5757.	-816.6	-43.1	35479.3	-1151.	6538.6

(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)	(8)	(9)	(10)
GENEL	4001		1073	1	1073	2	1073	3
	1073	4	1073	5	1073	6
	UD		1074	1	1074	2	1074	3
	1074	4	1074	5	1074	6
	Z	.592-6				.39-6		.592-6
		-.39-6			.1-9
	.319-6			.319-6		.1-9

(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)	(8)	(9)	(10)
GENEL	435		11	1	23	4	72	0
	17	2
	S	1.7	2.3	3.6	4.4	5.2	6.8	7.1
	8.9
	K	.1	.2	.3	.4	.5	.6	.7
	.8
	UD		12	2	47	0

Field	Contents
EID	Unique element identification number. No default (Integer > 0)
GIi/CIi	Grid (or scalar point) and component identification numbers ordered according to stiffness or flexibility values specified after KZmn. For scalar points, CIi is zero. No default (GIi is integer > 0 and CIi is integer > 0).
UD	Flag indicating that the subsequent fields and continuation entries contain values for GDj/CDj until “K”, “Z”, or “S” is specified in field 2 or it is the end of the entry. No default (Character)
GDj/CDj	Grid (or scalar point) and component identification numbers ordered according to the columns in the “S” matrix. No default (GDj is integer > 0 and CDj is integer > 0).
K or Z	Flag indicating that the next fields and continuation entries contain stiffness values until “UD” or “S” is specified in field 2 or it is the end of the entry. No default (Character)
KZmn	Stiffness or flexibility matrix for degrees-of-freedom in GIi/CIi where “m” is the row number and “n” is the column number. Only the lower triangular terms in the matrix need to be specified. Zero values must be specified as blank or 0.0. Default = 0.0 (Real)
S	Flag indicating that the subsequent fields and continuation entries contain values for the S matrix. No default (Character)
Sij	“S” matrix values where “i” corresponds to GIi/CIi list and “j” corresponds to GDj/CDj list until “K”, “Z”, or “UD” is specified in field 2 or it is the end of the entry. All the terms in the matrix must be specified and zero values must be specified as blank or 0.0. Default = 0.0 (Real)

Comments

1.	GIi/CIi and KZmn are required inputs. Either “K” or “Z” must be specified, but not both.

2.	“UD”, “K”, “Z”, and “S”, may be specified in any order as demonstrated in the third example.

3.	“UD” and “S” are optional inputs. “S” defines the motion between the GIi/CIi and GDj/CDj degrees-of-freedom according to:

But if “S” is specified, then GDj/CDj must also be specified. If “S” is not specified, then GDj/CDj may contain six and only six degrees-of- freedom and they cannot refer to SPOINTs.

If only “K” or “Z” is input without “UD”, then it is recommended that the resulting stiffness represents the unsupported element, containing all of the rigid body modes. If not, the “UD” option allows for the reintroduction of the rigid body modes with “S” which is provided by you or computed internally.

a)	If “K” and “UD” are specified, the program will form the complete stiffness as defined by the following equation:

genel_eq12

Where, the K matrix is formed from the KZmn values and the S matrix is formed from the Sij values or computed automatically.

b)	If “Z” and “UD” are specified, then the program will form the complete stiffness as defined by the following equation:

genel_eq3

Where, the Z matrix is formed from the KZmn values and the S matrix is formed from the Sij values or computed automatically. Z must be nonsingular.

5.	PARAM,CK3 may be used to scale the stiffness produced by all GENEL elements.

All lower triangular values in K and Z and all values in S have to be accounted for in the input. Zero values may be specified as 0.0 or be left blank, however if all entries in any continuation line are zero, then at least one visible character must appear on this line (it can be 0.0 in any field or the plus sign (+) in the first column) because blank lines are treated as comment. Unused fields (after the last matrix entry) must be blank.

7.	General elements are ignored in heat transfer analysis.