I'm slowly grinding through the tutorials in the getting started guide and would like to try and build on the chain link pendulum example. Firstly I tried to fix the end of the pendulum, so that the chain would drape. Screenshot of my model below. Then my second goal is to create a horizontal roller support, so that the rotational springs could hold it in position through their rotational stiffness. I'd genuinely appreciate any guidance on how to create a horizontal roller, or create multiple support points. *The spirals are revolute joints, with springs and dampeners attached. If I remove the fixed translation component, the model functions quite happily as a chain pendulum. All help gratefully received.

Hi Neil, Not sure what you want to accomplish. Can you show a picture or a sketch of the system or mechanism that you are trying to model? Here's a model with two supports: Animation:

Thanks for the response. What I'd like to create are two supports, with a prescribed distance between them. Between these two supports will be a series of links, whose total combined length would be greater than the distance between the supports. Using revolute joints between each link, I would like to model the links so they drape between the two supports under their selfweight. The idea being that I could reverse the geometry, include rotational springs on the revolute joints and make a springy arch that can support loads, with its load carrying capacity being driven by the stiffness of the springs. I hope this makes sense, I'm not near a scanner for a few days else I would draw a sketch.

Diagram below of what I would like to achieve as a system, once stable I would like to place forces and/or accelerations to the red nodes. I hope this makes sense...

Creating Supports in SystemModeler ....