Dear James,

You can control a displacement along a curve using the user defined amplitude.

But in this case you dont really need it. You do the bending stage by pressing the radius on the pipe (in y direction) while fixing the two ends of the pipe in x direction.

Regards,

Ali

Dear James Burke,

do you want to simulate both the bending and the compression of the tube?

I am asking you because the bending procedure would solely involve a high computational cost, since there are rigid body motions involved which means that an analysis that includes geometric non linearities is required. So at least two steps are required. In the first step the upper region of the tube would be set to have displacement BCs that will be controlled by a proper amplitude (like Ali Torkabadi suggests) and the certain BCs should also apply at the region where bending occurs. At the second step the BCs that apply should change and a vertical displacement on the upper or the lower part of the tube would be prescribed (if the procedure is displacement controlled). Otherwise proper nodal forces should be defined if the procedure is force controlled.

Regards,

Anargyros