In 3D, a shell can be coupled to a solid by adding a Solid Connection node in the Shell interface and a Shell Connection node in the Solid Mechanics interface. The connection can either be from an edge of the shell to a boundary on the solid, or between two boundaries. The first case is intended for modeling a transition from a shell to a solid where shell assumptions are valid on both sides of the connection. The second case is for adding a shell on top of a solid. Select this feature from the Connections submenu.

Select a Connection type—Softened or Simplified. When using Softened (the default), three extra degrees of freedom are added to each selected point. This allows for a more accurate description of the transition, but the model can in some cases become underconstrained if the mesh on the solid is very coarse. The Simplified version of the connection just adds constraints to the boundary of the solid, and in general causes local disturbances of the stress field.

When using the Solid Connection node for a boundary, the connection is intended for placing a shell as a cladding on the boundary of a solid. No other settings except the boundary selection are required.