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Definition Settings

The differences in the contact settings determine how the contacting bodies can move relative to one another. This
category provides the following properties.

Type

Scope Mode

Behavior

Trim Contact

Suppressed

Type

Choosing the appropriate contact type depends on the type of problem you are trying to solve. If modeling the ability of
bodies to separate or open slightly is important and/or obtaining the stresses very near a contact interface is important,
consider using one of the nonlinear contact types (Frictionless, Rough, Frictional), which can model gaps and more
accurately model the true area of contact. However, using these contact types usually results in longer solution times
and can have possible convergence problems due to the contact nonlinearity. If convergence problems arise or if
determining the exact area of contact is critical, consider using a finer mesh (using the Sizing control) on the contact
faces or edges.

The available contact types are listed below. Most of the types apply to Contact Regions made up of faces only.

Bonded: This is the default configuration and applies to all contact regions (surfaces, solids, lines, faces, edges).
If contact regions are bonded, then no sliding or separation between faces or edges is allowed. Think of the
region as glued
. This type of contact allows for a linear solution since the contact length/area will not change
during the application of the load. If contact is determined on the mathematical model, any gaps will be closed
and any initial penetration will be ignored. [Not supported for Rigid Dynamics. Fixed joint can be used instead.]

No Separation: This contact setting is similar to the Bonded case. It only applies to regions of faces (for 3D
solids) or edges (for 2D plates). Separation of the geometries in contact is not allowed.

Frictionless: This setting models standard unilateral contact; that is, normal pressure equals zero if separation
occurs. Thus gaps can form in the model between bodies depending on the loading. This solution is nonlinear
because the area of contact may change as the load is applied. A zero coefficient of friction is assumed, thus
allowing free sliding. The model should be well constrained when using this contact setting. Weak springs are
added to the assembly to help stabilize the model in order to achieve a reasonable solution.

Rough: Similar to the frictionless setting, this setting models perfectly rough frictional contact where there is no
sliding. It only applies to regions of faces (for 3D solids) or edges (for 2D plates). By default, no automatic closing
of gaps is performed. This case corresponds to an infinite friction coefficient between the contacting bodies. [Not
supported for Explicit Dynamics analyses.]

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Frictional: In this setting, the two contacting geometries can carry shear stresses up to a certain magnitude
across their interface before they start sliding relative to each other. This state is known as "sticking." The model
defines an equivalent shear stress at which sliding on the geometry begins as a fraction of the contact pressure.
Once the shear stress is exceeded, the two geometries will slide relative to each other. The coefficient of friction
can be any nonnegative value. [Not supported for Rigid Dynamics. Forced Frictional Sliding should be used
instead.]

Forced Frictional Sliding: In this setting, a tangent resisting force is applied at each contact point. The tangent
force is proportional to the normal contact force. This setting is similar to Frictional except that there is no
"sticking" state. [Supported only for Rigid Dynamics]

By default the friction is not applied during collision. Collisions are treated as if the contact is frictionless
regardless the friction coefficient. The following commands override this behavior and include friction in shock
resolution (see Rigid Dynamics Command Objects Library in the ANSYS Mechanical User's Guide for more
information).

options=CS_SolverOptions()

options.FrictionForShock=1

Note that shock resolution assumes permanent sliding during shock, which may lead to unrealistic results when
the friction coefficient is greater than 0.5.

Friction Coefficient: Enables you to enter a friction coefficient. Displayed only for frictional contact applications.

Note:

For the Bonded and No Separation contact Type, you can simulate the separation of a Contact
Region as it reaches some predefined opening criteria using the Contact Debonding feature.

Refer to KEYOPT(12) in the Mechanical APDL Contact Technology Guide for more information
about modelling different contact surface behaviors.

Scope Mode

This is a read-only
property that displays how the selected Contact Region was generated. Either automatically
generated by the application (Automatic) or constructed or modified by the user (Manual). Note that this property is
not supported for Rigid Body Dynamics analyses.

Behavior

This property will appear only for 3D Face/Face or 2D Edge/Edge contacts. For 3D Edge/Edge or Face/Edge contacts,
internally the program will set the contact behavior to Asymmetric (see below). Note that this property is not
supported for Rigid Body Dynamics analyses.

Sets contact pair to one of the following:

Program Controlled ( Default

for the Mechanical APDL solver): internally the contact behavior is set to the
following options based on the stated condition:

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Auto Asymmetric (see below): for Flexible-Flexible bodies.

Asymmetric (see below): for Flexible-Rigid bodies.

Symmetric (see below): for Flexible-Flexible bodies that are scoped to a Nonlinear Adaptive Region.

For Rigid-Rigid contacts, the Behavior property is under-defined for the Program Controlled setting. The
validation check is performed at the Contact object level when all environment branches are using the
Mechanical APDL solver. If the solver target for one of the environments is other than Mechanical APDL,
then this validation check will be carried out at the environment level; the environment branch will become
under-defined.

Asymmetric: Contact will be asymmetric for the solve. All face/edge and edge/edge contacts will be asymmetric.
[Not supported for Explicit Dynamics analyses.]

Asymmetric contact has one face as Contact and one face as Target (as defined under Scope Settings),
creating a single contact pair. This is sometimes called "one-pass contact," and is usually the most efficient way to
model face-to-face contact for solid bodies.

The Behavior must be Asymmetric if the scoping includes a body specified with rigid Stiffness Behavior.

Symmetric: Contact will be symmetric for the solve.

Auto Asymmetric: Automatically creates an asymmetric contact pair, if possible. This can significantly improve
performance in some instances. When you choose this setting, during the solution phase the solver will
automatically choose the more appropriate contact face designation. Of course, you can designate the roles of
each face in the contact pair manually. [Not supported for Explicit Dynamics analyses.]

Note: Refer to KEYOPT(8) in the Mechanical APDL Contact Technology Guide for more information
about asymmetric contact selection.

Trim Contact

The Trim Contact feature can speed up the solution time by reducing the number of contact elements sent to the
solver for consideration. Note that this feature is not supported for Rigid Body Dynamics analyses.

Trim Contact options include:

Program Controlled: This is the default setting. The application chooses the appropriate setting. Typically, the
program sets Trim Contact to On. However, if there are manually created contact conditions, no trimming is
performed.

On: During the process of creating the solver input file, checking is performed to determine the proximity
between source and target elements. Elements from the source and target sides which are not in close proximity
(determined by a tolerance) are not written to the file and therefore ignored in the analysis.

Off: No contact trimming is performed.

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The checking process is performed to identify if there is overlap between the bounding boxes of the elements involved.
If the bounding box of an element does not overlap the bounding box of an opposing face or element set, that element
is excluded from the solution. Before the elements are checked, the bounding boxes are expanded using the Trim
Tolerance property (explained below) so that overlapping can be detected.

Trim Tolerance

This property provides the ability to define the tolerance value that is used to expand the bounding boxes of the
elements before the trimming process is performed.

This property is available for both automatic and manual contacts when the Trim Contact is set to On. It is only
available for automatic contacts when the Trim Contact is set to Program Controlled since no trimming is
performed for manual contacts. For automatic contacts, this property displays the value that was used for contact
detection and it is a read-only field. For manual contacts, enter a value greater than zero.

Note that a doubling expansion effect can result from the bounding box expansion since the bounding box of both the
source and target elements are expanded. An example of the double expansion effect is illustrated below where the
Trim Tolerance is defined as 10 mm. For simplicity sake, the size of the elements is specified as 5mm. Therefore, the
bounding boxes for the contact/target elements will extend 10mm (two elements) in each direction as represented by
the orange boxes, solid and dashed. For each face, Contact and Target, the number of elements that will be used are
illustrated.

The brown area illustrated below represents the elements from the contact face. On the corresponding target side exist
potential elements from the entire target face. The elements of the target face that will be kept are drawn in black. On
the target Face, each element bounding box is expanded by 10mm and an overlap is sought against each element from
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the contact side. Referring to the image below, the bounding boxes between Contact Element 1 (CE1) and Target
Element 2 (TE2) overlap thus TE2 is included in the analysis. Meanwhile, CE3 and TE4 do not overlap and as a result,
TE4 is not included in the analysis. This results in a reduced number of elements in the analysis and, typically, a faster
solution.

Suppressed

Specifies whether or not the Contact Region is included in the solution.

Release 17.0 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved.

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