Hello all,

I was hoping someone could give me some advice.

I have piping linking two separate structures supported via a bridge. The bridge is fixed to one structure but sliding on the other side, as a result there is quite a bit of movement in the bridge (relative to the piping). As the piping is resting freely on the bridge it is free to slide in X, and Z and should only see frictional forces from movement in these directions but all displacements in Y (of the bridge) should be transferred onto the piping.

I have tried to model this by representing the bridge as ridged vertical elements (placed where each beam of the bridge would contact the piping) connected through CNODE to the piping. All the vertical rigids are tied together through horizontal rigids, I then fix one end of my "bridge" and apply my displacements to the other. This works well for the Y displacements but all X and Z are transferred to the piping as well. Any suggestions on how to model the piping "sliding" on the bridge?