Nodal Supports

Nodal supports represent external restraint conditions defined to act on the analytical nodes within any model. The nodal supports are an idealised representation of an external restraint on the displacement and/or rotation of the node. Nodal restraints are used to define the boundary conditions on the system of equations which are solved in the analysis of the structure.

Nodal supports may prevent lateral displacements or rotations in the global axes directions. Nodal supports may also be defined to be linear elastic springs, or support displacements.

When nodal supports are defined as springs, the analysis of the structure is no longer linear, and the software automatically uses an iterative method for the analysis.

Nodal supports are always applied related to the MasterFrame global axes.