10/4/22, 2:48 PM What is Frictionless Support ?

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What is Frictionless Support ?

Posted on March 22, 2021 by graspengineering

Frictionless Support
It is a type of support used to constrained degrees of freedom in normal
directions. This support or boundary condition is used to prevent one or
more flat or curved faces from moving or deforming in the normal
direction. If this boundary condition is applied to the face of the body then
no portion of the surface body can move, rotate, or deform normal to the
face, but for tangential directions, the surface body is free to move, rotate,
and deform tangentially to the face. 

If this support is used for a flat surface body or solid body, then it is
equivalent to mirror symmetry condition. This boundary condition is
available in ANSYS FEA software. 

Figure1 shows the frictionless support applied to horizontal pressure

vessel, where it constrains the movement in normal direction (fixed
translation out of plane support).

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Figure 1: Frictionless support (Mirror Symmetry)

Figure 2 shows that frictionless support is applied to the hole surface,

where it constrains the surface in radial direction movement while free in
tangential and axial direction.

Figure 2: Frictionless Support Circular Surface

Summary: 
1. The Frictionless support applies constraint in normal
direction of the surface.
2. The frictionless support if applied on flat solid face is
equivalent to mirror symmetry condition.

fea Frictionless support Types of Boundary condition

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