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Joints Finder

Joint Finder is a powerful tool that helps to find and recognize different types of joints. It is used by Beam Member Finder tool to recognize beam member length in 2 directions and by Joint Checks.

There following types of Joints are recognized automatically:

The Joint is a node with connected elements. A type of joint is defined per element (because 2D joints depend on element Y orientation). The example below demonstrates that the blue beam member has 2DY joints (will be split in the Y direction) and the purple members 2Dz. (red arrows - an orientation of the element Y direction).

The following example demonstrates the Joint Connection for I-beam member. If a connected member (green) is along the Y axis (+-10deg) of the I-beam element is recognized as 2Dy joint, along Z axis = 2Dz:

Execute Recognitions - Finders - Joint from the ribbon to recognize joints:

Joint Finder Form | SDC Verifier

To recognize the joints press Find. There are 3 options:

Joints_three_options

Press Button_automatically_highlight_one_beam to automatically highlight one Joint selected in the table.

Press Joint Finder Expand All | SDC Verifier to open all nodes in the table.

Press Joint Finder Collapse All | SDC Verifier to close all nodes in the table.

It is possible to modify an Element Joint. Select the Elements in the table, define the Type, and press Set:

Modified Joints are marked with asterisks (2Dy*):

If a Node is selected then the Joint Type will be applied to all connected Elements.

It possible to plot joints of selected types:

Show Labels = None:

Show Labels = Entity Ids. Blue color - element id, green - node id:

Show 2D Joint Axes - direction beam axes are shown with arrows (Y axis - green, Z axis - purple). There are 3 options what axes to show (relevant - e.g. Z axis is shown for 2Dz type):

Show only joints elements

To plot selected joints from list press (colored plot) or (nodal joint types).

The Joint Filter can be used to filter joints in the table.

Joint Finder Filter | SDC Verifier

Press Joint Finder Filter Edit Selection | SDC Verifier to select nodes from model to display only related joints in the table. By default, full model is used to display joints.

Joint Finder Filter | SDC Verifier

Press Joint Finder Filter Edit Types | SDC Verifier to select types to display joints that contain at least 1 element of selected types in the table. By default, all types are selected to display related joints.

Joint Finder Filter | SDC Verifier

Press Apply Filter to apply filter and update the table.

Applied filter is displayed above the table.

Joint Finder Current Filter | SDC Verifier

Use Find by Node ID to navigate to the respective joint in the table

Joint Finder Navigate | SDC Verifier

Press Settings to define the Selection for recognition and the Tolerance Angle

Joint Finder settings | SDC Verifier

The Tolerance Angle is used in Joint Type recognition (e.g. if an angle between 2 line elements > 3 degrees it is treated as elements that do not lie on straight line and form 2D Joint).

It is possible to take into account all constraints from the model in the recognition of joints:

Joint Finder constraints

By default, the full model is used for joint recognition. If some elements are used as a connection and should not be treated as Joints define desired selection for the recognition.

Press to export the Joints to Nodal or Elemental component.

It is possible to export all joints by following types:

Note: For selected Joint Types that do not contain any nodes, the component will be skipped.