How can I simulate a pipe support (simple construction just a clamp attached to a beam with a bolt, like the post about Hilti clamps earlier) with a rubber inlay. The rubber inlay can compress to every direction.

Dear,

If I understood properly, you are supporting in vertical direction a pipe (restraint in y direction up and down), and all around the support (up and down) there is a rubber, that is able to be compressed because is not rigid.

If it is like that (and you want to be so accurate) you can model not rigid restraints, this is, including the stiffness of the not rigid element supporting the pipe in the direction it is not rigid.

Regards.

Hello,
Pablo can you explain? Indeed I support the pipe in y direction. My pipe is in the x-direction. Is it so that I model an Y-restraint and a Z-restraint with stiffness? Or a gap because rubber is flexible.

Perhaps you should question how important the restraint is ... would modelling a rigid guide be adaquate ?

Otherwise, if you really want an accurate appraisal you need to consider that rubber is not linear in response under load. The stress-strain curve is usually a sigmoid or 'S' shape. Look at how much freedom the clamp will actually allow, get some data on the rubber liner performance and do some test runs to ensure your model reasonably reflects what reality provides.

IMHO, a hard restraint with a small gap is probably going to be ok.

So you think when I model a y-restrain and z-restrain both with a gap it would be oke? Rubber is 6mm thick.

Probably ok. That said ....

It really depends upon how sensitive your geometry is. In my experience, most stress calcs are run with no gaps, for reasons that have been explained many times in this forum.

You could apply a spring rate (stiffness) to each directional restraint and check that the displacements at resulting are realistic and within the 6mm limit. Maybe use bi-linear springs if you are in big problems.

You might also consider the effects of axial friction due to lateral loads at restraints.

I have used Fabreeka lined Clamps with a Calculated Spring at the Support point. I typically enter a Spring if I need to reduce loads at a nozzle or something similar, else I leave it as a hard support.