Connectivity

A connection between two SCTN elements is facilitated by a Secondary Joint (SJOI) element.

The SJOI is owned by a Secondary Node (SNOD) element, which is positioned on the Justification line of the Owning section at the intersection between the Attached and Owning sections.

Sections are connected automatically when they are created if the Secondary Nodes checkbox on the Section window is selected.

When SCTN elements are connected the SJOI element is created, owned by the SNOD element of the Owning section.

The SJOI has a Cref (connection reference) attribute that points to the name of the Attached section.

The Attached section has two attributes, Joistart (Joint start) and Joiend (Joint end) that point to the name of the SJOI element by which they are attached to their respective Owning members, thus creating a ‘circular’ reference.

SCTN elements may also be connected explicitly with the Connect menu.

From the main menu bar, select Connect > Connect you are prompted to ‘Identify section to be connected to:’

Click to select the section to be connected and the prompt changes to ‘Identify section end to be connected:’ press Esc to terminate the selection process.

SNODs and SJOIs are created at each Owning/Attached intersection.

Where two or more sections connect to the Owning section at the same point, a single SNOD is created which owns two or more SJOI elements. The Cref attribute of each SJOI points to the name of the relevant Attached section.

Connections may be updated after position changes to the owning or attached sections with one of these selections from the Connect menu:

• Connect > Trim to Pline - Trims the section to a Pline selected by the system in accordance with current Pline rule, that is POSL attribute of the SJOI element is modified.

• Connect > Trim to Section - Trims the section in accordance with the current Posline setting of the SJOI element. The incorrect connection of the attached member may result from this, for example, if the Beta Angle of the Owning SCTN has changed.

To disconnect SCTN elements select Connect > Disconnect from the main menu tool bar you are prompted to ‘Identify section to be disconnected:’

Click the section to be disconnected and the prompt changes to ‘Identify section end to be disconnected:’. Press Esc to terminate the selection process.

Note: If required, you can undo the disconnect procedure, from the main tool bar click Edit > Undo.