HINGED

This command checks for possible hinges in a model and warns the user about the places where this condition may occur. It is up to the user to check these locations in the model and determine if any action should be taken to correct the model.

Hinged conditions exist when two element types are connected together, and one of those element types has more active degrees of freedom than the other. This is common in models that connect beams and shell elements (6 DOFs) to solid elements (3 DOFs). In these cases, the 6 DOF elements should penetrate into the solids along an edge or side in order to properly resolve to rotational degrees of freedom.