Oliver Lawrence (asker) Jun 1, 2010:

thanks to all who helped. Since this is a made-up term for this particular text only, I'm going to concoct something (more plausible than "through", though) with the client.

Michael Brennen May 5, 2010:

"Go-between" to me carries the sense of a person who actively participates between parties, not a mechanical or functional piece. The idealization of the concept seems to preclude the use of any specific term such as 'brace', 'strut', 'cleat' or similar as no one is sufficient. Claudia's 'intermediate' seems close but at the moment I don't see that it includes the idea of force transmission. Interesting puzzle; I'll continue to consider it.

Oliver Lawrence (asker) May 5, 2010:

Additional input from client: 'I have used the term as a generalization and an ideal concept. A "tramite" is basically an object which is used as a tool to transmit forces and stresses between members, to transfer forces from A to B. Any solid object can be used. It can have any shape. Consider the ideal rings of a chain.
Initially I envisaged "go-between" as the translation. Some use "cleat" but I am not sure it has the right meaning.'

Michael Brennen May 4, 2010:

'brace' or 'cross member'? I hear 'tramite' in the sense of a substantive 'go-between'. With that in mind might either of these work in your larger context? Braces are generally pezzi di irrigidimento. Cross member is used heavily in the auto industry, but it is far from restricted to that.

Sonia Maria Parise May 4, 2010:

:(

Oliver Lawrence (asker) May 4, 2010:

context is engineering structures not passageways, as suggested in an earlier answer, now hidden :)