1D Structural Element Coupling Scheme

1D structural element, such as beams, cables, piles, and geogrids are composed of structural element nodes. A node can now be linked to a target, including a ball, clump pebble, rigid block, zone, or structural element via structural element links. Links are created automatically when 1D structural elements are created. Unlike links with structural elements and zones, link model properties are not specified automatically when they exist with balls, clump pebbles or rigid blocks. Instead the user must specify them directly. The link models require stress to be measured at the node location. For rigid objects (i.e., balls, clumps, and rigid blocks) the stress is computed based on the contact force and the branch vector, as used in the measure logic. See here in the measurement logic description for further details of the formulation.