I'm trying to represent a thin preloaded cable that slides/bends around a contact surface using an FE_PART. I'm struggling to get the isotropic material properties of the FE_PART set so that it is stiff enough in tension and weak enough in bending to approximate a cable. Basically I can get one or the other. I'm wondering if anisotropic material properties might work better (c11 set to high value, others set to low), but the cable just blows up at the beginning of the simulation? Any thoughts on how I should specify the anisotropic material to approximate a cable or an alternative solution?
