Use a Distance Joint for 2D and 3D components to maintain a specified distance between two components. The two components behave as if they are connected through a rigid massless link with ball joints at the ends. No additional degrees of freedom are added by this joint.
Select a Source. Select any
Attachment,
Rigid Material,
Spur Gear,
Helical Gear,
Bevel Gear,
Worm Gear,
Spur Rack,
Helical Rack, or
Base Motion that is defined for the model. The option
Fixed is also available. When
Fixed is selected, the source side of the joint is fixed in space, and not connected to any modeled parts. Selecting a base motion gives a behavior similar to using
Fixed, with the exception that the base now can have a nonzero prescribed displacement, velocity, or acceleration.
Select a Destination. Select any
Attachment,
Rigid Material,
Spur Gear,
Helical Gear,
Bevel Gear,
Worm Gear,
Spur Rack, or
Helical Rack that is defined for the model. Select a
Connection point —
Centroid of destination,
Centroid of selected entities, or
User defined.
In large models, the list of available attachments can become long. You can then create geometric filters to narrow down the search. When the Use selection filter check box is selected, two subnodes named
Source Filter and
Destination Filter are added to the joint node. In these subnodes you can make graphic selections of the objects whose attachments should be shown in the
Source and a
Destination lists.
Enter an Extension Δ. The default is 0, in which case the distance is equal to the initial geometrical distance between the two connection points.
Select Group dependent variables in solver —
From physics interface (default),
Yes, or
No, to choose how to group the dependent variables added by the
Distance Joint feature in the solver sequence.
