Connector Preferences

Changes can affect the physical realization of the connector or the calculation of some connector properties.

From the File menu, select Preferences > HyperMesh > Connectors to define the following connectors preferences.

Physical Changes:

Nothing: Connector realizations will not react to physical changes of the links.
Modified: Changes the connector state to modified in the event of attribute changes of the links that affect the physical realization.
Figure 1.
Unrealize: Changes the connector state to unrealized in the event of attribute changes of the links that affect the physical realization.
Figure 2.
Realize: The connector re-realizes automatically when a link attribute is changed that affects the physical realization.
Figure 3.

Calculation Changes:

Nothing: Connector realizations will not react to attribute changes that affect connector calculations.
Modified: Changes the connector state to modified in the event of attribute changes that affect calculations of the connector.
Figure 4.
Unrealize: Changes the connector state to unrealized in the event of attribute changes that affect calculations of the connector.
Figure 5.
Realize: The connector re-realizes automatically when an attribute is changed that affects the calculations of the connector.
Figure 6.
Update: The connector’s attributes are updated according to the changes made. This ensures that the numbering of the connector remains unchanged.

Important Notes:

Transformation or Rotation of the Links may also affect the physical realization of the connector. In such cases, the connector will react according to the Connector Preferences.
In the case where the links move outside of the tolerance of the connection, the connector’s state changes to failed.
When organizing components into parts that are linked to connectors, the connectors react according to the Physical changes option set in the preferences.
For cases where an attribute change will affect both the physical realization as well as the connector calculations (for example, Seam-Quad with thickness dependence) the connectors will react according to the Physical changes option set in the preferences.
In cases of large models with many connectors, property card image changes may result in a degradation of performance. This degradation does not occur when both Physical and Calculation changes are set to Nothing.

Example Cases:

Spring (Rigid) point connector (rbe3-cbush-rbe3) with Huth calculation method. Change the material layup of a part. This material change causes the stiffness properties to become invalid. The connector's state is then automatically changed to modified, and you are able to run Update on the realization. This recalculates the properties but leaves the realization unchanged, ensuring that the numbering is unchanged. In this example, the preferences for calculation changes were set to modified.

Hexa (Rigid) point connector with equivale (T1+T2/2). When you change the thickness of the Link 1 Part, the thickness change will mean that the realization is no longer the right shape/size. The connector’s state is then automatically changed to unrealized to ensure that you have the right dimensions on their connector. You can then realize the connection and the connector has the correct size/shape. In this example, the preferences for the physical changes were set to unrealize.