Bearings

Bearings are elements, which connect structural members with each other, e.g. a pier with a girder, whereby the stiffness of the elements can be adapted by spring constants for each direction/rotation during the input or later in the Properties window.

To define a bearing, you need to specify the position of the bearing by a reference point or docking point in the cross section of the pier, e.g. the position of the left and right bearing.

To interactively create a new bearing

1. Right-click on the tree item Structural Supports to open the context menu and select the menu item New bearing.
2. Optionally, edit the name and the description in the opening input window.
3. Define the spring stiffnesses for the 6 degrees of freedom of the spring directly or by using the predefined types (for details see here).
4. Confirm the input with OK.

   In the tree, a new bearing is created in the menu Structural Supports.

5. In the 3D view window, click the reference point / docking point (to be selected in the Properties window), at which the bearing should be created.
6. In the view window, click the cross section of the first structural unit (e.g. cross section of the pier), which should be connected with the bearing.
7. In the view window, click the cross section of the second structural unit (e.g. cross section of the girder), which should be connected with the bearing.

   Note: The sequence of step 6 and 7 defines the orientation of the spring generated from the bearing in the static model.