2013 ANSYS, Inc.

March 14, 2013 1

ANSYS Mechanical
Advanced Connections
Lecture 2

Interface Treatments
2013 ANSYS, Inc. March 14, 2013 2
Chapter Overview
In this Lecture, we will discuss tools available for adjusting the Interface
between contact and target surfaces to simulate more advanced relationships
The following will be covered in this Lecture:
A. Rigid Body Motion
B. Contact Surface Offset
C. Workshop 2A - Interference Fit
D. Contact Stabilization Damping
E. Workshop 2B - Contact Stabilization
F. MPC Interface Options
G. Time Step Controls
H. Friction
I. Workshop 2C -Friction

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A. Rigid Body Motion
Rigid body motion can occur in the beginning of a static analysis due to the
fact that an initial contact condition is not well established.










The finite element method cannot reconcile rigid-body motion in a static
structural analysis.
- If an initial gap is present and a force based loading is applied, initial
contact may not be established, and one part may fly away relative to
another part.

Fn
Target
Contact
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For linear contact (bonded or no separation)behavior, a large enough
Pinball Radius may allow any gap between Contact and Target surfaces to
be ignored.
For nonlinear contact (frictional or frictionless) behavior, an initial gap is not
automatically ignored.

Fn
Target
Contact
... Rigid Body Motion
Pinball Radius
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B. Contact Surface Offset
To alleviate situations where a negligible gap exists between contact and
target surfaces, there are two options available under Interface Treatment to
internally offset the Contact surfaces by a specified amount.
On the left is the original model (mesh). The top red mesh is the body associated
with the Contact surfaces
The Contact surface can be mathematically offset by a certain amount, as shown on
the right in light green. This adjustment will allow for initial contact to be
established.

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Important notes on Contact Offset Feature:
This is a mathematical adjustment only. Nodes and elements are not altered.
The position of the contact surface is interpreted as being offset by specified
amount.
It has the effect of a change in geometry at the contact interface since a
rigid region will exist between the actual mesh and the offset contact
surface.
It is intended for applications where this adjustment is small enough to
have a negligible effect on overall results.
It has proven to be a useful tool to establish initial contact in static analyses
without having to modify the CAD geometry.
... Contact Surface Offset
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In the Details view, the user can select Adjust to Touch or Add Offset
Adjusted to Touch - Mechanical determines what contact offset amount is
needed to close the gap and establish initial contact. Note that the contact
status must be near field open (size of the Pinball Region must envelop the
gap) for this to work. If all contact elements are far-field open, no adjustment
will be made.
Add Offset allows the user to specify a
positive or negative distance to offset
the contact surface. A positive value will
tend to close a gap while a negative value
will tend to open a gap.
This can also be used to model initial interference
fits without modifying the geometry. Model
the geometry in just-touching position and
change the positive distance value to the
interference value.
... Contact Surface Offset
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Add Offset, Ramped Effects - Applies the interference gradually over
several substeps within a load step.
This option is useful to enhance convergence for challenging interference
problems.

Add Offset, No Ramping - Applies the interference all at once in first
substep.
... Contact Surface Offset
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C. Workshop
Please Refer to your Workshop Supplement

W2A: Interference Fit








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D. Contact Stabilization Damping
What about applications where the gap is no longer negligible (its too large to
be ignored).
- For such situations, Contact Stabilization Damping can be used to introduce a
viscous damping traction proportional to but opposite to the relative pseudo
velocities between the two surfaces along contact normal and/or tangential
directions.






Where: = damping coefficient in normal direction
= damping coefficient in tangential direction
= pseudo velocity
Fn
Target
Contact
Ft
2 2
1 1
u d P
u d P
u d P
t d
t d
n n dn

=
=
=
Pdn
Pd1,d2
u
d
d
t
n

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The damping coefficients are calculated as a function of the opening gap and
pinball as follows:






Where: FDMN = scaling factor in normal direction (default =1.0)
FDMT = scaling factor in tangential direction (default = 0.001)
PINB = Pinball radius

)
`

=
)
`

=
0
/ ) ( * *
0
/ ) ( *
PINB U PINB FDMT FDMN
d
PINB U PINB FDMN
d
n
t
n
n
pinb n n
pinb n
U U U
U U
gt or 0 If
If
s
s
pinb n n
pinb n
U U U
U U
gt or 0 If
If
s
s
... Contact Stabilization Damping
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Contact stabilization is inactive by default.
As an exception, it will be activated automatically if ALL of the following
conditions are met:
Gauss point or surface projection based detection.
AND the entire contact pair is in near field open status.
AND a geometric penetration is detected at any contact nodal point, despite the
initially open status.























... Contact Stabilization Damping
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Contact Stabilization Damping
Stabilization Damping Factor is applied in the
contact normal direction and it is valid only for
nonlinear contact (frictionless, rough and
frictional contacts).
If this factor is 0 (default), the damping is
activated under the conditions mentioned
previously and only in the first load step
If its value is greater than 0, the damping is
activated for all load steps.
Additional controls are available via KEYOPT(15)
in a command object.
Tangential damping factor is not directly exposed
in Mechanical, but can be manually defined via
RMODIF in a command object.













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Contact Stabilization Damping
Note that the Energy introduced into the model by Contact Stabilization
Damping is artificial.
It can alleviate convergence problems, but it can also affect solution
accuracy if the applied stabilization energy generated by the damping forces
are too large
In most cases, the program automatically activates and deactivates contact
stabilization damping and estimates reasonable damping forces.
However, it is a good practice to check the stabilization energy and reaction forces.

The contact stabilization energy can be post processed via the ETABLE
command using the AENE label in a command object. This should be
compared to element potential energy via SENE label on ETABLE.
For example: ETABLE,AE,AENE !save artificial energies associated with stabilization
ETABLE,SE,SENE !save strain energies to element table
SSUM !sum all element energies for comparison
PRETAB,AE,SE !print element table values










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Contact Stabilization Damping
Example: Consider a fixed pin interfacing with a hole in plate with initial radial
clearance and under a force based load
Stabilization captures localized stress distribution more accurately then Adjust to Touch
Conventional Adjust to Touch Contact Stabilization Damping












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Contact Stabilization Damping
Contact Stabilization can be more challenging to converge as compared to
adjust-to-touch option. Note also, it introduces some artificial energy
into the model.











Conventional Adjust to Touch Contact Stabilization Damping
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Contact Stabilization Damping
Mathematical adjustment to close
gap causes rigid region to exist
No Gap
Conventional Adjust to Touch Contact Stabilization Damping
Example: Consider a hyperelastic seal against a hard surface








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E. Workshops
Please refer to your Workshop Supplement

W2B: Contact Stabilization








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With MPC Formulation, there are different Constraint Types
available to address unique challenges that can arise when using
CEs (constraint equations) to connect entities together.
- Target Normal, Couple U to ROT (default in WB-Mechanical) is
sufficient for most applications
- Note, the typical MPC equation listed below establishes a relationship
between the rotational DOF of node 6212 on one surface body edge
with displacement DOFs on adjacent surface
F. MPC Interface Options
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- Target Normal, Uncouple U to ROT creates CEs that separate the
rotational and displacement DOFs into separate equations to improve
results for special applications to remove artificial stiffness at the
connection.
... MPC Interface Options
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For example, consider the case of two
surface body edges connected together
with MPCs


- The default, Target Normal, Couple U to ROT, creates too many
constraints, causing an artificial stiffness at the connection and
resulting in a discontinuity of stress and strain distribution that should
not be there




- Target Normal, Uncouple U to ROT produces expected results



... MPC Interface Options
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Inside Pinball, Couple U to ROT allows
contact detection regardless of element
normal direction
- This option is especially helpful for unique
applications of connecting a line body edge
with a shell or solid face or edge








Inside Pinball, Couple U to ROT option
properly creates CEs using nodes around
entire perimeter of shell edge, regardless of
beam element normal direction

MPCs created with Default based on beam
element normal direction
... MPC Interface Options
Shell elements
B
e
a
m

N
o
r
m
a
l

D
i
r
e
c
t
i
o
n

B
e
a
m

N
o
r
m
a
l

D
i
r
e
c
t
i
o
n

Shell elements
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Time Step Controls offers an additional layer of convergence enhancement that
allows bisections and adjustments to time step size based on changes in contact
behavior.

This choice is displayed only for nonlinear contact:
Frictionless
Rough
Frictional



G. Time Step Controls
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By default, changes in contact behavior do not influence automatic time
stepping.
Appropriate for most analyses
Bisections triggered by contact status change might be an unnecessary detriment to
overall run time efficiency.
In the example below, there is no benefit to reducing the time step because of
the contact status change (from closed to open). Yet, auto time stepping for
other criteria often still is desirable.

Time Step Controls
Step 1 Step 2
Status = Closed Status = Closed Status = Open-near field
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Time Step Controls
Automatic Bisection - Contact behavior is reviewed at the end of each
substep to determine whether excessive penetration or drastic changes in
contact status have occurred. If so, the current substep is re-evaluated
using a bisected time increment (reduced by half).

In the example below, automatic bisection might enhance convergence
when a localized contact status change results in a dramatic change in the
stiffness response of the overall structure.
Use auto time
step for contact
status change in
this region only.
F
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Predict for Impact - Same as the Automatic Bisection option except that
this option also predicts the minimal time increment needed to detect
future changes in contact status.
Recommended if impact is anticipated.
Time Step Controls
Substep 1
Substep 2
Substep 3
Contact
missed due
to coarse
time step
Time step is
auto decreased
to capture the
contact status
change
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Time Step Controls
Use Impact Constraints: - A Newmark method is used to achieve a more
accurate energy balance at the contact interface.
Helpful for high impact transient dynamic problems where inertia effects are
important.
Applicable to situations where the energy created from a local contact
penetration at time of impact exceeds the total potential energy of the original
system at time zero.
Can be more efficient then the Predict for Impact option presented on previous
slide.


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H. Frictional Contact Options
In general, the tangential or sliding behavior of two contacting bodies may be
frictionless or involve friction.
Frictionless behavior allows the bodies to slide relative to one another without any
resistance.
When friction is included, shear forces can develop between the two bodies.
Frictional contact may be used with small-deflection or large-deflection
analyses
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Frictional Contact Options
Friction is accounted for with Coulombs Law:



Where: =coefficient of static friction

Once the tangential force F
tangential
exceeds the above value, sliding will occur

normal tangential
F F s
F
n
F
t
F
n
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Frictional Contact Options
For frictional contact, a friction coefficient must be input
A Friction Coefficient of 0.0 results in
the same behavior as frictionless
contact
The default contact formulation
is Augmented Lagrange
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Reviewing Friction Related Results
If frictional contact is present, additional contact output is available
Contact Frictional Stress and Contact Sliding Distance can be reviewed to get a better
understanding of frictional effects
For Contact Status, Sticking vs. Sliding results differentiate which contacting areas are
moving
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I. Workshop Contact with Friction
Please refer to your Workshop Supplement for instructions on:
W2C-Contact with Friction