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Table of Contents
1. Contact Overview .................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1. General Contact Classification ........................................................................................................... 1
1.2. Contact Capabilities .......................................................................................................................... 2
1.2.1. Surface-to-Surface Contact Elements ........................................................................................ 3
1.2.2. Node-to-Surface Contact Elements ........................................................................................... 4
1.2.3. 3-D Line-to-Line Contact .......................................................................................................... 4
1.2.4. Line-to-Surface Contact ............................................................................................................ 4
1.2.5. Node-to-Node Contact Elements .............................................................................................. 5
2. GUI Aids for Contact Analyses ................................................................................................................ 7
2.1. The Contact Manager ........................................................................................................................ 7
2.2. The Contact Wizard ........................................................................................................................... 8
2.3. Managing Contact Pairs .................................................................................................................... 9
3. Surface-to-Surface Contact ................................................................................................................... 11
3.1. Using Surface-to-Surface Contact Elements ..................................................................................... 11
3.2. Steps in a Contact Analysis .............................................................................................................. 11
3.3. Creating the Model Geometry and Mesh ......................................................................................... 12
3.4. Identifying Contact Pairs ................................................................................................................. 12
3.5. Designating Contact and Target Surfaces ........................................................................................ 13
3.5.1. Asymmetric Contact vs. Symmetric Contact ............................................................................ 14
3.5.1.1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 14
3.5.1.2. Using KEYOPT(8) ............................................................................................................ 15
3.6. Defining the Target Surface ............................................................................................................. 15
3.6.1. Pilot Nodes ............................................................................................................................ 15
3.6.2. Primitives ............................................................................................................................... 15
3.6.3. Element Types and Real Constants .......................................................................................... 16
3.6.3.1. Defining Target Element Geometry ................................................................................ 16
3.6.4. Using Direct Generation to Create Rigid Target Elements ......................................................... 16
3.6.5. Using Meshing Tools to Create Rigid Target Elements .............................................................. 18
3.6.5.1. Some Modeling and Meshing Tips ................................................................................. 20
3.6.5.2. Verifying Nodal Number Ordering (Contact Direction) of Target Surface .......................... 21
3.7. Defining the Deformable Contact Surface ....................................................................................... 22
3.7.1. Element Type ......................................................................................................................... 22
3.7.2. Real Constants and Material Properties ................................................................................... 24
3.7.3. Generating Contact Elements ................................................................................................. 24
3.8. Geometry Correction for Contact and Target Surfaces ...................................................................... 25
3.8.1. Surface Smoothing ................................................................................................................ 25
3.8.2. Simplified Bolt Thread Modeling ............................................................................................. 27
3.9. Set the Real Constants and Element KEYOPTS .................................................................................. 29
3.9.1. Real Constants ....................................................................................................................... 30
3.9.1.1. Positive and Negative Real Constant Values .................................................................... 33
3.9.1.2. Defining Real Constants in Tabular Format ..................................................................... 34
3.9.1.3. Defining Real Constants via a User Subroutine ............................................................... 35
3.9.2. Element KEYOPTS ................................................................................................................... 35
3.9.3. Selecting a Contact Algorithm (KEYOPT(2)) ............................................................................. 38
3.9.3.1. Lagrange Multiplier Method Considerations ................................................................... 38
3.9.4. Determining Contact Stiffness and Allowable Penetration ....................................................... 39
3.9.4.1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 39
3.9.4.2. Using FKN and FTOLN .................................................................................................... 39
3.9.4.3. Using FKT and SLTO ....................................................................................................... 41
3.9.4.4. Additional Considerations for Specifying Contact Stiffness ............................................. 41
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List of Figures
2.1. Contact Manager Toolbar ........................................................................................................................ 7
2.2. Example of a Contact Wizard Dialog ........................................................................................................ 9
3.1. Localized Contact Zones ....................................................................................................................... 13
3.2. Geometric Entities and Their Corresponding Rigid Target Elements ........................................................ 18
3.3. A Single Circular Target Segment Created From Arc Line Segments ........................................................ 19
3.4. Meshing Patterns for Arbitrary Target Surfaces ....................................................................................... 20
3.5. Smoothing Convex Corner .................................................................................................................... 21
3.6. Correct Node Ordering .......................................................................................................................... 21
3.7. Contact Element Types .......................................................................................................................... 23
3.8. Specification of the Contact Surface's Outward Normal .......................................................................... 25
3.9. Geometry Correction Applied to Revolute and Spherical Surfaces .......................................................... 27
3.10. Bolt Thread Dimensions ...................................................................................................................... 28
3.11. Depth of the Underlying Element ........................................................................................................ 33
3.12. Sliding Contact Resistance .................................................................................................................. 46
3.13. Friction Decay ..................................................................................................................................... 47
3.14. Contact Detection Located at Gauss Point ........................................................................................... 49
3.15. Contact Detection Point Location at Nodal Point ................................................................................. 50
3.16. Node Slippage Using Nodal Integration KEYOPT(4) = 1 or 2 .................................................................. 50
3.17. Surface Projection Based Contact ........................................................................................................ 51
3.18. Contact Surface Adjustment With ICONT ............................................................................................. 54
3.19. Contact Surface Adjustment (PMIN, PMAX) .......................................................................................... 55
3.20. A Scenario in Which Initial Adjustment Will Fail .................................................................................... 56
3.21. Ignoring Initial Penetration, KEYOPT(9) = 1 ........................................................................................... 58
3.22. Components of True Penetration ......................................................................................................... 58
3.23. Ramping Initial Interference ................................................................................................................ 59
3.24. Effect of Moving Contact Nodes .......................................................................................................... 60
3.25. Auto Spurious Prevention ................................................................................................................... 62
3.26. Penalty-Based Shell-Shell Assembly ..................................................................................................... 65
3.27. Path Dependent Fluid Penetration Loading ......................................................................................... 84
3.28. Free End Points (2-D) and Free Open Edges (3-D) ................................................................................. 86
3.29. Fluid Penetration Acting Time (FPAT) Greater Than Substep ................................................................. 88
3.30. Fluid Penetration Acting Time (FPAT) Less Than Substep ...................................................................... 89
4.1. Node-to-Surface Contact Elements ........................................................................................................ 95
5.1. Line-to-Line Contact Elements .............................................................................................................. 99
5.2. Internal Contact (One Beam Sliding Inside Another) ............................................................................. 100
5.3. External Contact (Two Beams Roughly Parallel) .................................................................................... 100
5.4. External Contact (Two Beams Cross Each Other) .................................................................................. 101
5.5. Continuous Line Segments ................................................................................................................. 102
5.6. Equivalent Circular Cross Section ......................................................................................................... 103
6.1. Line-to-Surface Contact Elements ........................................................................................................ 105
6.2. Continuous Line Segments ................................................................................................................. 106
7.1. Target Temperature ............................................................................................................................. 110
8.1. Node-to-Node Contact Element .......................................................................................................... 119
8.2. Contact Between Two Concentric Pipes ............................................................................................... 121
8.3. Two Concentric Pipes, Normals Rotated Properly .................................................................................. 122
8.4. Example of Overconstrained Contact Problem ..................................................................................... 124
9.1. Example of Shell-Solid Assembly ......................................................................................................... 131
9.2. Shell-Solid Assembly (Original Mesh) ................................................................................................... 132
9.3. Shell-Solid Assembly with Shell-Solid Constraint Option ...................................................................... 133
9.4. Shell-Solid Constraint - No Intersection (use KEYOPT(5) = 4 or 5) ........................................................... 134
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List of Tables
1.1. Contact Support ..................................................................................................................................... 2
3.1. Summary of Real Constant Defaults in Different Environments ............................................................... 31
3.2. Real Constants and Corresponding Primary Variables for CONTA171-CONTA177 ..................................... 34
3.3. Summary of KEYOPT Defaults in Different Environments ........................................................................ 37
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Contact Overview
Nodeto- Surface
Surface-to-Surface
LinetoLine
Lineto- Surface
178
175
171,
172
173,
174
176
177
--
169,
170
169
170
170
170
2-D
--
--
--
3-D
--
small
large
large
large
large
large
Sliding
Cylindrical
Gap
Spherical Gap
Augmented
Lagrange Multiplier
--
Contact Stiffness
semiauto
semiauto
semiauto
semiauto
semiauto
semiauto
Auto-meshing
Tools
EINTF
ESURF
ESURF
ESURF
ESURF
ESURF
Lower-Order
Higher-Order
--
Y (2-D
only)
Rigid-Flexible
Flexible-Flexible
Thermal Contact
--
--
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Contact Capabilities
NotetoNode
Nodeto- Surface
Surface-to-Surface
LinetoLine
Lineto- Surface
178
175
171,
172
173,
174
176
177
--
169,
170
169
170
170
170
Electric Contact
--
--
Magnetic
Contact
--
--
--
To model a contact problem, you first must identify the parts to be analyzed for their possible interaction.
If one of the interactions is at a point, the corresponding component of your model is a node. If one
of the interactions is at a surface, the corresponding component of your model is an element: either a
beam, shell, or solid element. The finite element model recognizes possible contact pairs by the presence
of specific contact elements. These contact elements are overlaid on the parts of the model that are
being analyzed for interaction. The various contact elements, and procedures for using them, are described in this guide.
An overview of the contact elements and their capabilities follows. For detailed information on any of
these elements, refer to the Element Reference and the Mechanical APDL Theory Reference.
Contact Overview
complex rigid forms or general deformable forms can be modeled using special preprocessing techniques
(see Defining the Target Surface (p. 15) for more information).
Surface-to-surface contact elements are not well-suited for point-to-point, point-to-surface, edge-tosurface, or 3-D line-to-line contact applications, such as pipe whip or snap-fit assemblies. You should
use the node-to-surface, node-to-node, or line-to-line elements in these cases. You also can use surfaceto-surface contact elements for most contact regions and use a few node-to-surface contact elements
near contact corners.
The surface-to-surface contact elements only support general static and transient analyses, buckling,
harmonic, modal or spectrum analyses, or substructure analyses.
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Contact Capabilities
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Contact Wizard - Accesses the Contact Wizard GUI described in The Contact Wizard (p. 8). Allows
you to manually define target and contact surfaces. Supports both 2-D and 3-D geometries as well
as rigid-flexible (with optional pilot node) or flexible-flexible contact. (Primitives are not supported
by contact wizard.) The wizard also supports surface-based constraint contact pairs.
Contact Properties - Allows you to specify the properties of the contact pair(s) via real constants
and KEYOPTs for the contact elements used.
Delete Contact Pairs - Deletes the contact pairs selected in the contact pair list.
Contact Selection Options - Specifies display of contact elements, target elements, or both.
Plot Elements/Results - Displays the elements of selected contact pairs; or displays the contact results,
if available (POST1 only), specified in the Contact Results field for selected contact pairs. Results are
displayed if Model Context is specified as "Result-"; otherwise, elements are displayed. The display
can be limited to contact, or target, or both as specified in the Contact Selection Options field. (Note
that CONTA175 results will not display graphically, but can be listed with the List Elements/Results
icon.)
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The Contact Wizard remains unavailable (dimmed) if you haven't meshed any portion of your model.
If you wish to create a rigid-flexible model, mesh only those parts of the model which will be used as
flexible contact surfaces (do not mesh the rigid target surfaces) before launching the wizard. If you wish
to create a flexible-flexible model, mesh all parts of the model which will be used as contact surfaces
(including target surfaces) before launching the wizard.
You can specify target and contact surfaces using lines, areas, volumes, selected set of nodes, or node
components. Note that the wizard allows you to choose more than one area for the target and contact
surfaces, thus allowing multiple areas to form a single contact surface. If you specify a rigid target surface,
you will then have the option to define a pilot node for that contact pair. (The pilot node step is mandatory if you define a surface-based constraint contact pair by picking the Pilot Node Only option.)
After you specify the target and contact surfaces, you can specify properties of the contact pair (real
constants and KEYOPTs) before creating the contact pair. When you finish specifying all the required
data, click the Create button to create the contact and target element types, a unique real constant
set with the real constant values, and the elements that make up the contact and target surfaces.
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Note
Prior to displaying or listing result items associated with the initial contact configuration
resulting from the CNCHECK,POST command, you need to issue the appropriate FILE and
SET,FIRST commands to read the results from the proper results file (see CNCHECK for details).
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
2. Identify the contact pairs
3. Designate contact and target surfaces
4. Define the target surface
5. Define the contact surface
6. Set the element KEYOPTS and real constants
7. Define/control the motion of the target surface (rigid-to-flexible only)
8. Apply necessary boundary conditions
9. Apply fluid pressure-penetration loads
10. Define solution options and load steps
11. Solve the contact problem
12. Review the results
Each contact-specific step also has a corresponding GUI approach where you use functions and features
on the Contact Toolbar.
Note
You should avoid midside-noded elements for 3-D contact surfaces when using node-tosurface element CONTA175.
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Depending on the geometry of the model (and the potential deformation), multiple target surfaces
could interact with the same zone of the contact surface. In such cases, you must define multiple contact
pairs (using multiple overlapping contact elements), each with its own real constant number. See Figure 3.1: Localized Contact Zones (p. 13).
The geometry-based contact pair generation tools (see the Contact Wizard) may create unnecessary
contact and target elements which are never in contact during solution. For modeling small sliding
contact or assembly contact, you can issue CNCHECK,TRIM to remove contact and target elements
which are initially in far-field (that is, open and not near contact). The trimming is based on the contact
pinball size; the smaller the pinball radius, the greater the number of contact and target elements that
will be deleted. The contact trimming option is useful in Distributed ANSYS runs to achieve better performance.
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
If one surface is stiffer then the other, the softer surface should be the contact surface and the stiffer
surface should be the target surface.
If higher-order elements underly one of the external surfaces and lower-order elements underly the
other surface, the surface with the underlying higher-order elements should be the contact surface
and the other surface should be the target. However, for 3-D node-to-surface contact, the lower-order
elements should be the contact surface. The higher-order elements should be the target surface.
If one surface is markedly larger than the other surface, such as in the instance where one surface
surrounds the other surface, the larger surface should be the target surface.
In the case of 3-D internal beam-to-beam contact modeled by CONTA176 (a beam or pipe sliding
inside another hollow beam or pipe), the inner beam should be considered the contact surface and
the outer beam should be the target surface. However, when the inner beam is much stiffer than the
outer beam, the inner beam can be the target surface.
These guidelines are true for asymmetric contact; however, asymmetric contact may not perform satisfactorily for your model. The following section details the difference between asymmetric and symmetric
contact and outlines some of the situations that require symmetric contact.
3.5.1.1. Introduction
Asymmetric contact is defined as having all contact elements on one surface and all target elements
on the other surface. This is sometimes called "one-pass contact." This is usually the most efficient way
to model surface-to-surface contact. However, under some circumstances asymmetric contact does not
perform satisfactorily. In such cases, you can designate each surface to be both a target and a contact
surface. You can then generate two sets of contact pairs between the contacting surfaces (or just one
contact pair; for example, a self-contact case). This is known as symmetric contact (or "two-pass contact").
Obviously, symmetric contact is less efficient than asymmetric contact. However, many analyses will
require its use (typically to reduce penetration). Specific situations that require symmetric contact include
models where
The distinction between the contact and target surfaces is not clear.
Both surfaces have very coarse meshes. The symmetric contact algorithm enforces the contact constraint conditions at more surface locations than the asymmetric contact algorithm.
If the meshes on both surfaces are identical and sufficiently refined, the symmetric contact algorithm
may not significantly improve performance and may, in fact, be more "expensive" in CPU time. In such
circumstances, pick one surface to be the target and the other the contact surface.
For a symmetric contact definition, the program may find one side of a contact surface as closed and
the other side of the surface as open. In this case, it can be difficult to interpret the results. The total
contact pressure acting on both sides is the average of the contact pressures on each side of the surface.
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Note
In any contact model, you can mix different types of contact pairs: rigid-to-flexible or flexibleto-flexible contact; symmetric contact or asymmetric contact. However, only one type can
exist with a contact pair.
3.6.2. Primitives
You can use circle, cylinder, cone, and sphere primitives to model the target (which require real constants
to define the radius). You can combine primitive segments with general segments (such as lines, parabolas, triangles, and quadrilaterals) to define a target surface. Primitives cannot be defined directly in
the Contact Wizard. The primitives do not support MPC based bonded or no-separation contact.
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
Note
Specifying real constants (R1, R2) manually is necessary only if you use direct generation to
create your target elements, or if you model 3-D beam-to-beam contact with CONTA176.
You can also use the meshing tools to create the elements, or use the Contact Manager
Toolbar.
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Note
You cannot mix 2-D and 3-D target elements on the same target surface.
You cannot mix rigid target elements with deformable target elements on the same target
surface. During solution, the program assigns a deformable status to target elements with
underlying elements and assigns a rigid status to target elements without underlying elements.
If a portion of the underlying elements of a deformable surface are deleted, an error will
occur in solution.
You can generate the nodes and elements using standard direct-generation techniques. For more information on direct generation modeling techniques, see Direct Generation in the Modeling and Meshing
Guide.
Command(s): N, E
GUI: Main Menu> Preprocessor> Modeling> Create> Nodes
Main Menu> Preprocessor> Modeling> Create> Elements
You can then verify your element shapes by listing the elements.
Command(s): ELIST
GUI: Utility Menu> List> Elements> Nodes + Attributes
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
Note
KMESH always creates pilot nodes.
To generate POINT segments, use the Direct Generation method or use ESURF,,,POINT command on
selected nodes.
To generate 2-D rigid target elements or 3-D rigid line/parabola segments, use the following command
or GUI path. The program creates a single line over each line, parabolic segments over B-splines, and
arc segments over each arc and line fillet (see Figure 3.2: Geometric Entities and Their Corresponding
Rigid Target Elements (p. 18)). If all the arcs form a closed circle, the program creates a single circular
segment (see Figure 3.3: A Single Circular Target Segment Created From Arc Line Segments (p. 19)).
However, if the arcs that form a closed circle are created from imported or archived geometry (such as
IGES), the program might not create a single circular segment.
Command(s): LMESH
GUI: Main Menu> Preprocessor> Meshing> Mesh> Lines
Figure 3.2: Geometric Entities and Their Corresponding Rigid Target Elements
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To generate 3-D rigid target elements, use the following command or GUI path.
Command(s): AMESH
GUI: Main Menu> Preprocessor> Meshing> Mesh> Areas
If the surface segments on the solid model form a complete sphere, cylinder, or cone, then the program
automatically generates a single primitive 3-D target element through the AMESH command. By creating
fewer elements, the analysis becomes more computationally efficient. For arbitrary surfaces, you should
use AMESH to generate target elements. In these cases, the quality of the meshed target shape is not
important. It is more important that the target elements represent the rigid surface geometry well.
We recommend using mapped meshing on all possible areas. If there is no curvature on the edges of
the surface, assign one division on that edge. TARGE169 with a rigid specification will always mesh with
one element division, per line, ignoring any LESIZE setting. The default target element shape is quadrilateral. If you want a triangular target element shape, use MSHAPE,1. Figure 3.4: Meshing Patterns for
Arbitrary Target Surfaces (p. 20) shows the meshing patterns for arbitrary target surfaces. The following
command or GUI path will generate a mapped mesh wherever possible (otherwise, if not possible, it
will generate a free mesh).
Command(s): MSHKEY,2
GUI: Main Menu> Preprocessor> Meshing> Mesh> Areas> Target Surf
If the target surface is flat (or nearly flat), you may select low-order target elements (3-node triangular
or 4-node quadrilateral elements). If the target surface is curved you should select high-order target
elements (6-node triangular or 8-node quadrilateral). By doing so, set KEYOPT(1) = 1 in the target element
definition.
Note
Low-order target elements result in "cheaper" CPU usage in getting penetration and gap;
however, the meshed surface may not be smooth. Higher-order target elements are more
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
"expensive" to use in getting the penetration and gap, but they need many fewer elements
to discretize the whole curved target surface.
Note
If target elements are created via program meshing (through the KMESH, LMESH, or ESURF
commands) the TSHAP command is ignored and the program chooses the correct shape
codes automatically.
Figure 3.4: Meshing Patterns for Arbitrary Target Surfaces
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For 3-D contact, the target element numbering should be such that the rigid surface's outward normal
points toward the contact surface. The outward normal is determined by the right-hand rule.
For 3-D line segments, the target nodes must be numbered in a sequence that defines a continuous
line. The line can be made up of linear or parabolic segments, depending on whether the underlying
beam is made up of first order or second order elements.
To check the direction of the normals, turn on the element coordinate systems.
Command(s): /PSYMB,ESYS,1
GUI: Utility Menu> PlotCtrls> Symbols
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
If the element normals do not point toward the contact surface, select this element and reverse the
direction of the surface normals.
Command(s): ESURF,,REVE
GUI: Main Menu> Preprocessor> Modeling> Create> Elements> Surf/Contact> Surf to Surf
or, reorient the element normals:
Command(s): ENORM
GUI: Main Menu> Preprocessor> Modeling> Move/Modify> Elements> Shell Normals
Note
Contact on target primitives (such as a complete circle, cylinder, cone, or sphere), can occur
only on the outside surfaces of such target bodies.
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CONTA171: This is a 2-D, 2-node, lower order line element that can be located on the surfaces of 2-D
solid, shell, or beam elements (such as SHELL208).
CONTA172: This is a 2-D, 3-node, higher order parabolic element that can be located on the surfaces of
2-D solid or beam elements with midside nodes (such as PLANE183).
CONTA173: This is a 3-D, 4-node, lower order quadrilateral element that can be located on the surfaces
of 3-D solid or shell elements (such as SHELL181). It can be degenerated to a 3-node triangular element.
CONTA174: This is a 3-D, 8-node, higher order quadrilateral element that can be located on the surfaces
of 3-D solid or shell elements with midside nodes (such as SHELL281). It can be degenerated to 3- to 7node quadrilateral/triangular shapes.
The following elements can also be defined using the method described here.
CONTA175: This is a 2- or 3-D, 1-node element that can be located on the surface of 2-D lower order and
higher order solid or beam elements or 3-D lower order solid or shell elements. Use CONTA175 for nodeto-surface contact.
CONTA176: This is a 3-D line element that can be located on the surface of 3-D beam and pipe elements.
The element can be a 2-node line or a 3-node parabola, depending on whether the underlying element
is lower or higher order. Use CONTA176 to model 3-D beam-to-beam contact.
CONTA177: This is a 3-D line element that can be located on the surface of 3-D beam and pipe elements
or on the edge of 3-D shell elements. The element can be a 2-node line or a 3-node parabola, depending
on whether the underlying element is lower or higher order. Use CONTA177 to model 3-D line-to-surface
contact.
Use the following command to define the contact element type.
Command(s): ET
GUI: Main Menu> Preprocessor> Element Type> Add/Edit/Delete
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
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If the surface normals are specified incorrectly, you must either change them by reversing the
node number order of the selected elements.
Command(s): ESURF,,REVE
GUI: Main Menu> Preprocessor> Modeling> Create> Elements> Surf/Contact> Surf to Surf
Or, you can reorient the element normals.
Command(s): ENORM
GUI: Main Menu> Preprocessor> Modeling> Move/Modify> Elements> Shell Normals
Note
ESURF,,TOP or BOTTOM and checking the direction of outward normals will not apply to
node-to-surface contact (CONTA175) because it is a single-node element with no surface
normal associated with it.
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25
Surface-to-Surface Contact
correction is available for surface-to-surface contact elements; TARGE169, TARGE170, CONTA171, CONTA172, CONTA173, and CONTA174.
A circular correction can be applied to 2-D segments approximating a portion of a circular (or nearly
circular) arc. Use the commands:
SECTYPE,SECID,CONTACT,CIRCLE
SECDATA,X0,Y0
! circle center location in global Cartesian coordinates (XY plane)
A spherical correction can be applied to surfaces approximating a portion of a sphere (or nearly a
sphere). Use the commands:
SECTYPE,SECID,CONTACT,SPHERE
SECDATA,X0,Y0,Z0
! sphere center location in global Cartesian coordinates
The circular correction requires that you specify the circle's center location in global Cartesian coordinates.
The spherical correction requires that you specify the sphere's center location in global Cartesian coordinates. The cylindrical correction requires that you input the axis of revolution in global Cartesian
coordinates.
The defined geometry correction can be applied to specific contact and target elements via a section
ID. Use the SECNUM command prior to creating contact and target elements to associate the elements
with a particular section ID, or use the EMODIF command to assign a section ID to existing elements.
You can apply more than one geometry correction to the same contact or target surface. In the peg
and slot example below, the peg is one contact surface. Two geometry corrections are applied to this
contact surface: a revolute correction on the conical body and a spherical correction on the spherical
tip. The cylindrical slot (target surface) requires only a revolute correction.
26
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spherical correction
revolute correction
This geometry correction technique assumes that the initial locations of the contact or target element
corner nodes (but not necessarily the midside nodes of quadratic elements) lie on the true initial surface
geometry. Geometry correction is most beneficial for small deflection analyses (small or large sliding).
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27
Surface-to-Surface Contact
bolt axis. The following figure shows a bolt geometry with the primary parameters needed to define
the thread.
Figure 3.10: Bolt Thread Dimensions
Pitch
dm
dr
d
(x1 , y 1,z 1)
(x 2, y 2,z 2 )
Thread
Angle 2
Bolt Geometry
Hole Geometry
Use the section commands SECTYPE and SECDATA to input the required data:
SECTYPE,SECID,CONTACT,BOLT
SECDATA,Dm,P,ALPHA,N,X1,Y1,Z1,X2,Y2,Z2
where
Dm = Mean pitch diameter, dm
P = Pitch distance, p
ALPHA = Half-thread angle,
N = Number of starts (defaults to 1)
X1, Y1, Z1, X2, Y2, Z2 = Two end points of the bolt axis in global Cartesian coordinates
Use the SECNUM command to associate the contact elements with a particular section ID, or use the
EMODIF command to assign a section ID to existing contact elements. Assign the section ID only to
the contact elements on the thread region of the bolt geometry.
Either the bolt or bolt hole can be the contact surface. However, it is highly recommended that you
apply the contact surface to the bolt and the target surface to the bolt hole.
Symmetric contact should not be used for bolt thread modeling. If symmetric contact is defined, the
program will assume asymmetric contact and will usually select the bolt surface as the contact surface.
The value of the mean pitch diameter, dm, should be between the values of the major diameter (d) and
the minor diameter (dr); see Figure 3.10: Bolt Thread Dimensions (p. 28) for details. If you only know
the major diameter, you can input a rough estimation for the mean pitch diameter by using this equation:
dm = d - 0.65p
In order to achieve better accuracy, the mesh size over the thread region should be smaller than a
quarter of the pitch distance, p. The half-thread angle, , should be smaller than 90 degrees and larger
than 0 degrees ( defaults to 30 degrees). The number of thread starts, n, defaults to 1 for a single28
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
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Description
ANSYS
Mechanical
APDL Default
ANSYS
Workbench
Default
No.
Name
R1
n/a
R2
n/a
1
Superelement thickness [5]
3
FKN
[1]
FTOLN
0.1
0.1
ICONT
PINB
Pinball region
[2]
[2]
PMAX
PMIN
TAUMAX
1.00E+20
1.00E+20
10
CNOF
11
FKOP
12
FKT
13
COHE
Contact cohesion
14
TCC
[3]
15
FHTG
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31
Surface-to-Surface Contact
Real Constants
Description
ANSYS
Mechanical
APDL Default
ANSYS
Workbench
Default
No.
Name
16
SBCT
Stefan-Boltzmann constant
n/a
17
RDVF
n/a
18
FWGT
0.5
0.5
19
ECC
[7]
20
FHEG
n/a
21
FACT
Static/dynamic ratio
22
DC
23
SLTO
1%
1%
24
TNOP
[6]
[6]
25
TOLS
[4]
[4]
26
MCC
n/a
27
PPCN
Pressure-penetration criterion
n/a
28
FPAT
0.01
n/a
29
COR
Coefficient of restitution
30
STRM
31
FDMN
n/a
32
FDMT
0.001
n/a
33
FDMD
n/a
34
FDMS
n/a
35
TBND
n/a
n/a
1. FKN = 10 for bonded. For all other, FKN = 1.0, but if bonded and other contact behavior exists, FKN = 1
for all.
2. Depends on contact behavior (rigid vs. flex target), NLGEOM,ON or OFF, KEYOPT(9) setting, KEYOPT(12)
setting, and the value of CNOF (see Using PINB (p. 61)).
3. Calculated as a function of highest conductivity and overall model size.
4. 10% of target length for NLGEOM,OFF.
2% of target length for NLGEOM,ON.
5. R1 and R2 are used to define the target element geometry. See Defining Target Element Geometry (p. 16)
and the target element descriptions (TARGE169 and TARGE170) for details on how they are used for
different geometries.
6. TNOP defaults to the force convergence tolerance divided by contact area at contact nodes.
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Each contact pair has a pair-based depth which is obtained by averaging the depth of each contact
element across all the contact elements in a contact pair. This can avoid the problem of very different
element-based depths when there are meshes with large variations in element sizes.
Note
When the contact pair depth is too small (for example, 10-5), the machine precision may not
guarantee the accuracy of penetration to be calculated. You should scale the length unit in
the model.
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33
Surface-to-Surface Contact
! NSET is the real constant set ID associated with the contact pair
For more information and examples of using table inputs, see TABLE Type Array Parameters in the ANSYS
Parametric Design Language Guide; Applying Loads Using TABLE Type Array Parameters in the Basic
Analysis Guide; and the *DIM command in the Command Reference.
Table 3.2: Real Constants and Corresponding Primary Variables for CONTA171-CONTA177
Real Constants
TIME
Location
(X,Y,Z)
[1]
TEMP
PRESSURE [2]
GAP [3]
%_CNPROP%
[6]
Number
Name
FKN
x [4]
TAUMAX
10
CNOF
11
FKOP
12
FKT
14
TCC
x [5]
17
RDVF
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Location
(X,Y,Z)
[1]
TIME
TEMP
19
ECC
26
MCC
27
PPCN
31
FDMN
32
FDMT
35
TBND
PRESSURE [2]
x [5]
GAP [3]
%_CNPROP%
[6]
1. Coordinates of the contact detection points at the beginning of solution (undeformed configuration).
2. Contact normal pressure via the primary variable PRESSURE. For PRESSURE index values, specify positive
values for compression; negative value for tension.
3. Geometric contact gap/penetration via the primary variable GAP. For GAP index values, specify positive
values for penetration; negative values for an open gap.
4. Contact pressure at the end of the previous iteration, if it exists.
5. When the contact element type does not contain any structural degrees of freedom, the real constants
TCC, ECC, and MCC should not be defined as a function of the contact pressure.
6. See Defining Real Constants via a User Subroutine (p. 35).
! NSET is the real constant set ID associated with the contact pair
If several real constant values are defined via %_CNPROP% for a given contact pair, the subroutine will
be called for each of these real constant entries. Therefore, you can use a single USERCNPROP subroutine
to modify multiple real constant values. For details, see Defining Your Own Real Constant (USERCNPROP) (p. 72).
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35
Surface-to-Surface Contact
Contact algorithm (defaults to augmented Lagrangian) (KEYOPT(2))
Unit control for normal contact stiffness (KEYOPT(3)) of surface-to-surface contact (see the note below
for other meanings of KEYOPT(3))
Location of contact detection point (KEYOPT(4))
CNOF Automated adjustment (KEYOPT(5))
Contact stiffness variation range (KEYOPT(6))
Time step control and impact constraints (KEYOPT(7))
Asymmetric contact selection (KEYOPT(8))
Effect of initial penetration or gap (KEYOPT(9))
Contact stiffness update (KEYOPT(10))
Shell thickness effect (KEYOPT(11)) (not applicable to CONTA176 or CONTA177)
Behavior of contact surface (rough, bonded, etc.) (KEYOPT(12))
Behavior of fluid penetration load (KEYOPT(14))
Effect of stabilization damping (KEYOPT(15))
Squeal damping controls (KEYOPT(16))
Note
KEYOPT(3) has different meanings, depending on the element type and other circumstances:
For 2-D and 3-D surface-to-surface contact (CONTA171, CONTA172, CONTA173, CONTA174),
KEYOPT(3) can be used to control the units of the absolute normal contact stiffness (that
is, when a negative value is specified for FKN) under certain conditions. See Using FKN
and FTOLN (p. 39).
For 2-D surface-to-surface contact (CONTA171, CONTA172), if superelements are present
in the model, KEYOPT(3) specifies the stress state. See Using KEYOPT(3) in a 2-D Analysis
with Superelements (p. 66).
For node-to-surface contact (CONTA175), line-to-line contact (CONTA176), and line-tosurface contact (CONTA177), KEYOPT(3) specifies the contact model (force-based or tractionbased).
For line-to-line contact (CONTA176), KEYOPT(3) also specifies the type of beam-to-beam
contact.
KEYOPT defaults can vary depending on the environment you are working in. The following table
compares the default values between the program, the Contact Wizard, and the ANSYS Workbench.
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Description
ANSYS
Mechanical APDL
Contact
Wizard
Selects DOF*
Manual
Auto
Auto
Auto
Contact Algorithm
Aug.
Lagr.
Aug.
Lagr.
Aug. Lagr.
Aug. Lagr.
No unit
control
No unit
control
n/a
n/a
gauss
gauss
gauss
gauss
CNOF/ICONT adjustment
No adjust
No adjust
No adjust
No adjust
Use default
range
Use default
range
Use default
range
Use default
range
No control
No control
No control
No control
No action
No action
No action
No action
Include
all
Exclude all
Include all
10
Between iterations
11
Exclude
Exclude
Exclude
Exclude
12
Standard
Standard
Bonded
n/a
14
Iterationbased
Iterationbased
n/a
n/a
15
Effect of stabilization
damping
Active
only in
first
load
step
n/a
n/a
n/a
16
Damping scaling
factor
n/a
n/a
n/a
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
Auto: Selection is based on DOF of underlying element.
Command(s): KEYOPT, ET
GUI: Main Menu> Preprocessor> Element Type> Add/Edit/Delete
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3.9.4.1. Introduction
For the augmented Lagrangian method and penalty method, normal and tangential contact stiffnesses
are required. The amount of penetration between contact and target surfaces depends on the normal
stiffness. The amount of slip in sticking contact depends on the tangential stiffness. Higher stiffness
values decrease the amount of penetration/slip, but can lead to ill-conditioning of the global stiffness
matrix and to convergence difficulties. Lower stiffness values can lead to a certain amount of penetration/slip and produce an inaccurate solution. Ideally, you want a high enough stiffness that the penetration/slip is acceptably small, but a low enough stiffness that the problem will be well-behaved in
terms of convergence.
The program provides default values for contact stiffnesses (FKN, FKT), allowable penetration (FTOLN),
and allowable slip (SLTO). In most cases, you do not need to define the contact stiffness. In addition,
we recommend that you use KEYOPT(10) = 2 to allow the program to update the contact stiffness
automatically.
39
Surface-to-Surface Contact
(at the beginning of solution), contact pressure of the previous iteration (positive PRESSURE index values
indicate compression, negative PRESSURE index values indicate tension), and current geometric penetration (positive GAP index values indicate penetration, negative GAP index values indicate an open
gap). For more information, see Defining Real Constants in Tabular Format (p. 34).
The user subroutine USERCNPROP.F is also available for defining FKN. To use this subroutine, you must
specify the table name %_CNPROP% as the real constant value. For more information, see Defining Real
Constants via a User Subroutine (p. 35).
If you input an absolute normal contact stiffness by specifying a negative value for FKN, you can control
the units by using KEYOPT(3). By default, the units of the user-specified absolute normal contact stiffness
is FORCE/LENGTH3. You can change the units to FORCE/LENGTH by setting KEYOPT(3) = 1. This KEYOPT(3)
= 1 setting is valid only when a penalty-based algorithm is used (KEYOPT(2) = 0 or 1) and the absolute
normal contact stiffness is explicitly specified. Using KEYOPT(3) = 1 is not recommended in conjunction
with nodal detection options (KEYOPT(4) = 1 or 2) if any midside nodes exist for the CONTA174 3-D
contact element. (KEYOPT(3) has different meanings in other situations. For more information, see the
description of KEYOPT(3) in Element KEYOPTS (p. 35).)
Note
The default contact normal stiffness is affected by defined material properties, element size,
the user-defined penetration tolerance (FTOLN), and the total number of degrees of freedom
in the model. Many factors may be applied to the actual contact normal stiffness during the
solution. The default contact stiffness listed in the Contact Manager or by the CNCHECK
command may be different from the actual contact stiffness reported by the ETABLE command. You should check the value reported by ETABLE to confirm that the appropriate
contact normal stiffness is used.
Use real constant FTOLN in conjunction with the augmented Lagrangian method. FTOLN is a tolerance
factor to be applied in the direction of the surface normal. The range for this factor is less than 1.0
(usually less than 0.2), with a default of 0.1, and is based on the depth of the underlying solid, shell, or
beam element (see Figure 3.11: Depth of the Underlying Element (p. 33)). This factor is used to determine
if penetration compatibility is satisfied.
Contact compatibility is satisfied if penetration is within an allowable tolerance (FTOLN times the depth
of underlying elements). The depth is defined by the average depth of each individual contact element
in the pair. If the program detects any penetration larger than this tolerance, the global solution is still
considered unconverged, even though the residual forces and displacement increments have met
convergence criteria. You can also define an absolute allowable penetration by specifying a negative
value for FTOLN. In general, the default contact normal stiffness is inversely proportional to the final
penetration tolerance; the tighter the tolerance, the higher the contact normal stiffness.
When you use real constant FTOLN in conjunction with KEYOPT(10) = 2, the normal contact stiffness
(used for the penalty method and the augmented Lagrange method) will be updated at each iteration
40
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Note
When the contact stiffness is too large (for example, 1016), the machine precision may not
guarantee good conditioning of the global stiffness matrix. In this case, you should scale the
force unit in the model if possible.
Note
FTOLN is also used in the Lagrange multiplier methods (KEYOPT(2) = 3, 4) as a chattering
control parameter.
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
1.
Use a low value for the contact stiffness to start. In general, it is better to underestimate this value
rather than overestimate it. Penetration problems resulting from a low stiffness are easier to fix than
convergence difficulties that arise from a high stiffness.
2.
Run the analysis up to a fraction of the final load (just enough to get the contact fully established).
3.
Check the penetration and the number of equilibrium iterations used in each substep. If the global
convergence difficulty is caused by too much penetration (rather than by residual forces and displacement
increments), FKN may be underestimated or FTOLN may be too small. If the global convergence requires
many equilibrium iterations for achieving convergence tolerances of residual forces and displacements
rather than the resulting penetration, FKN or FKT may be overestimated.
4.
Adjust FKN, FKT, FTOLN, or SLTO as necessary and run the full analysis. If the penetration control becomes
dominant in the global equilibrium iterations (that is, if more iterations were used to converge the
problem to within the penetration tolerance than to converge the residual forces), you may increase
FTOLN to permit more allowable penetration or increase FKN.
42
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Note
When a Lagrange multiplier method (KEYOPT(2) = 3, 4) or MPC algorithm (KEYOPT(2) = 2) is
used, KEYOPT(10) is ignored.
Note
A negative contact pressure occurs when the contact status is closed. A tensile contact
pressure (positive) refers to a separation between the contact surfaces, but not necessarily
an open contact status. However, the sign of the contact pressure is switched during postprocessing.
Note
For contact force-based models, TNOP is the maximum allowable tensile contact force. This
applies to CONTA175 with KEYOPT(3) = 0, CONTA176 with KEYOPT(3) = 0 or 1, and CONTA177
with KEYOPT(3) = 0.
The behavior can be described as follows:
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
If the contact status from the previous iteration is open and the current calculated penetration is
smaller than FTOLN, then contact remains open. Otherwise the contact status switches to closed and
another iteration is processed.
If the contact status from the previous iteration is closed and the current calculated contact pressure
is positive but smaller than TNOP, then contact remains closed. If the tensile contact pressure is larger
than TNOP, then the contact status changes from closed to open and the program continues to the
next iteration.
The program provides reasonable defaults for FTOLN and TNOP. FTOLN defaults to the displacement
convergence tolerance. TNOP defaults to 10% of the force convergence tolerance divided by the contact
area at contact nodes.
When providing values for FTOLN and TNOP:
A positive value is a scaling factor applied to the default values.
A negative value is used as an absolute value (which overrides the default).
The objective of FTOLN and TNOP is to provide stability to models which exhibit contact chattering
due to changing contact status. If the values you use for these tolerances are too small, the solution
will require more iterations. If the values are too large, however, the accuracy of the solution will be
affected as a certain amount of penetration or tensile contact force is allowed.
3.9.5.1. Introduction
In the basic Coulomb friction model, two contacting surfaces 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 Coulomb friction model defines an equivalent shear stress , at which sliding on the surface
begins as a fraction of the contact pressure p ( = p + COHE, where is the friction coefficient and
COHE specifies the cohesion sliding resistance). Once the shear stress is exceeded, the two surfaces will
slide relative to each other. This state is known as sliding. The sticking/sliding calculations determine
when a point transitions from sticking to sliding or vice versa.
As an alternative to the program-supplied friction model, you can define your own friction model with
the USERFRIC subroutine (see Writing Your Own Friction Law (USERFRIC) (p. 75)). Furthermore, you can
define your own contact interaction behavior with the USERINTER subroutine (see Defining Your Own
Contact Interaction (USERINTER) (p. 77)).
For frictionless, rough, and bonded contact, the contact element stiffness matrices are symmetric.
Contact problems involving friction produce unsymmetric stiffnesses. Using an unsymmetric solver is
more computationally expensive than a symmetric solver for each iteration. For this reason, the program
uses a symmetrization algorithm by which most frictional contact problems can be solved using solvers
for symmetric systems. If frictional stresses have a substantial influence on the overall displacement
field and the magnitude of the frictional stresses is highly solution dependent, the symmetric approx44
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You have an option to define TAUMAX as a function of primary variables by using tabular input (i.e.,
%tabname%). The possible primary variables include time, temperature, initial contact detection point
location (at the beginning of solution), current contact pressure (positive PRESSURE index values indicate
compression, negative PRESSURE index values indicate tension), and current geometric penetration
(positive GAP index values indicate penetration, negative GAP index values indicate an open gap). For
more information, see Defining Real Constants in Tabular Format (p. 34).
The user subroutine USERCNPROP.F is also available for defining TAUMAX. To use this subroutine, you
must specify the table name %_CNPROP% as the real constant value. For more information, see Defining
Real Constants via a User Subroutine (p. 35).
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45
Surface-to-Surface Contact
Another real constant used for the friction law is the cohesion, COHE (default COHE = 0), which has
units of stress. It provides sliding resistance, even with zero normal pressure (see Figure 3.12: Sliding
Contact Resistance (p. 46)).
Figure 3.12: Sliding Contact Resistance
Two other real constants, FACT and DC are involved in specifying static and dynamic friction coefficients,
as described in the next section.
rel
where:
= coefficient of friction.
MU = dynamic coefficient of friction.
FACT = ratio of static to dynamic coefficients of friction. It defaults to the minimum value of
1.0
DC = decay coefficient, which has units of time/length. Therefore, time has some meaning in
a static analysis. DC defaults to zero. When DC is zero, the equation is rewritten to be = MU
for the case of sliding and = FACT*MU for the case of sticking.
Vrel = slip rate calculated by the program.
For the isotropic friction model, MU is input using the MP command or the TB command as explained
above. For orthotropic friction, MU is the equivalent coefficient of friction computed from MU1 and
MU2 which are specified with TB command input:
12 + 22
Figure 3.13: Friction Decay (p. 47) shows the exponential decay curve where the static coefficient of
friction is given by:
46
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MU
V rel
You can determine the decay coefficient if you know the static and dynamic coefficients of friction and
at least one data point (1 ; Vrel1). The equation for friction decay can be rearranged to give:
rel1
If you do not specify a decay coefficient and FACT is greater than 1.0, the coefficient of friction will
change suddenly from the static to the dynamic value as soon as contact reaches the sliding state. This
behavior is not recommended because the discontinuity may lead to convergence difficulties.
47
Surface-to-Surface Contact
Frictionless contact
Rough contact (KEYOPT(12) = 1)
Bonded contact (KEYOPT(12) = 3, 5, 6)
MPC contact (KEYOPT(2) = 2)
Note
You should always verify the sliding direction when the velocities defined by CMROTATE
are applied on nodes that are shared by more than one frictional contact pair. In this situation,
you can redefine any contact elements that have a potentially incorrect sliding direction as
frictionless contact.
The amplitude of the sliding velocity defined by CMROTATE will affect the solution when the friction
coefficient is specified as a function of sliding velocity via the command TB,FRIC, or when static and
dynamic friction is defined via the real constants FACT and DC.
In a complex eigenvalue extraction analysis using the QRDAMP or DAMP methods (see MODOPT), the
effects of squeal damping will contribute to the damping matrix. The squeal damping can be identified
as two parts: destabilizing damping and stabilizing damping.
You can activate destabilizing squeal damping by one of the following methods:
1. Define friction as a function of sliding velocity via the TB,FRIC command.
2. Define static/dynamic friction via real constants FACT and DC.
3. Define a constant friction-sliding velocity gradient via real constant FDMD in conjunction with KEYOPT(16)
= 1.
4. Specify the destabilizing squeal damping coefficient directly (either a positive or negative value) in conjunction with KEYOPT(16) = 2.
When the destabilizing squeal damping is included by method (1) or (2), you can study its effects by
using FDMD as a scaling factor (KEYOPT(16) = 0); FDMD defaults to 1.0. The program multiplies the internally calculated destabilizing damping by this factor.
You can specify a constant friction-sliding velocity gradient directly via FDMD by setting KEYOPT(16) =
1. The defined gradient has units of TIME/LENGTH and it is negative in general.
You can also specify the destabilizing squeal damping coefficient directly via FDMD by setting KEYOPT(16)
= 2. The defined damping coefficient has units of MASS/(AREA*TIME) and it is negative in general. In a
linear non-prestressed modal analysis, this is the only way to take the destabilizing squeal damping
effects into account.
The stabilizing squeal damping is deactivated by default. To activate it, you must specify the scaling
factor via the real constant FDMS. FDMS defaults to 0.0. The program multiplies the internally calculated
stabilizing damping by this factor. By setting KEYOPT(16) = 1 or KEYOPT(16) = 2 you can specify the
stabilizing squeal damping coefficient directly via FDMS. The defined damping coefficient has units of
MASS/(AREA*TIME) and it is positive in general. In a linear non-prestressed modal analysis, this is the
only way to take the stabilizing squeal damping effects into account.
If squeal damping is included in a brake squeal modal analysis that uses the QR Damp eigensolver
(MODOPT,QRDAMP command), care should be taken not to generate a damping matrix with large
values (coefficients) relative to the values of the stiffness matrix. The accuracy of the QRDAMP eigen48
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3.9.6.1. Introduction
Contact detection points are located at the integration points of the contact elements which are interior
to the element surface. The contact element is constrained against penetration into the target surface
at its integration points. However, the target surface can, in principle, penetrate through into the contact
surface, see Figure 3.14: Contact Detection Located at Gauss Point (p. 49).
Figure 3.14: Contact Detection Located at Gauss Point
Surface-to-surface contact elements use Gauss integration points as a default, which generally provide
more accurate results than the nodal detection scheme, which uses the nodes themselves as the integration points. The node-to-surface contact element, CONTA175, the line-to-line contact element, CONTA176, and the line-to-surface contact element, CONTA177, always use the nodal detection scheme.
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
Figure 3.15: Contact Detection Point Location at Nodal Point
Be aware, however, that using nodes as the contact detection points can lead to other convergence
difficulties, such as "node slippage," where the node slips off the edge of the target surface, see Figure 3.16: Node Slippage Using Nodal Integration KEYOPT(4) = 1 or 2 (p. 50). In order to prevent node
slippage, you can use real constant TOLS to extend the target surface when the default setting still
cannot avoid the problem. For most point-to-surface contact problems, we recommend using CONTA175;
see Node-to-Surface Contact (p. 95) later in this guide.
Figure 3.16: Node Slippage Using Nodal Integration KEYOPT(4) = 1 or 2
Smoothing is required for nodal detection algorithms, and it is performed by averaging surface normals
connected to the node. As a result, the variation of the surface normal is continuous over the surface,
which leads to a better calculation of friction behavior and a better convergence.
Real constant TOLS is used to add a small tolerance that will internally extend the edge of the target
surface when you define the contact detection at the nodal point (KEYOPT(4) = 1 or 2). TOLS is useful
for problems where contact nodes are likely to lie on the edge of targets (as at symmetry planes or for
models generated in a node-to-node contact pattern). In these situations, the contact node may repeatedly "slip" off the target surface and go completely out of contact, resulting in convergence difficulties
from oscillations. Units for TOLS are percent (1.0 implies a 1.0% increase in the target edge length). A
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Contact element
n
Target element
There are certain disadvantages to using surface projection based contact, as follows:
This method is computationally more expensive since more nodes are included in each contact constraint condition, especially if 3-D higher order contact/target elements are used in the model. This
effect will be more obvious when a modal has a large percentage of contact/target elements, or
when the target elements are much more refined than the contact elements.
This method calculates the penetration/gap over the contacting area in an average sense. When a
model has corner or edge contact, the averaged penetration/gap could be quite different than the
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
real geometric penetration observed at contact nodes. In this situation, mesh refinement is usually
required in order to achieve an accurate solution.
Note
The surface projection contact method currently does not support the following:
1. Thermal contact modeled via a free thermal surface definition.
2. Rigid surfaces defined by primitive target segments
3. 3-D contact/target elements with partially dropped midside nodes (dropping all midside
nodes is supported)
3.9.7.1. Introduction
Rigid body motion is usually not a problem in dynamic analyses. However, in static analyses, rigid body
motion occurs when a body is not sufficiently restrained. "Zero or negative pivot" warning messages
and impractical, excessively large displacements indicate unconstrained motion in a static analysis.
In simulations where rigid body motions are constrained only by the presence of contact, you must
ensure that the contact pairs are in contact in the initial geometry. In other words, you want to build
your model so that the contact pairs are "just touching." However, you can encounter various problems
in doing so:
Rigid body profiles are often complicated, making it difficult to determine where the first point of
contact might occur.
Small gaps between element meshes on both sides of the element pair can be introduced by numerical round-off, even if the solid model is built in an initially-contacting state.
Small gaps can exist between the integration points of the contact elements and target surface elements.
For surface projection based contact, a numerical gap distance can exist even though geometric
penetration is observed at a contact node. This can occur because the numerical distance is obtained
over the overlapping area in an average sense.
For the same reasons, too much initial penetration between target and contact surfaces can occur. In
such cases, the contact elements may overestimate the contact forces, resulting in nonconvergence or
in breaking-away of the components in contact.
The definition of initial contact is perhaps the most important aspect of building a contact analysis
model. Therefore, you should always issue the CNCHECK command before starting the solution to
verify the initial contact status. You may find that you need to adjust the initial contact conditions. The
program offers several ways to adjust the initial contact conditions of a contact pair.
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3.9.7.2. Using PMIN, PMAX, CNOF, ICONT, STRM. KEYOPT(5), and KEYOPT(9)
The following techniques can be performed independently or in combinations of one or more at the
beginning of the analysis. They are intended to eliminate small gaps or penetrations caused by numerical round-off due to mesh generation. They are not intended to correct gross errors in either the mesh
or in the geometric data.
1. Use real constant CNOF to specify a contact surface offset.
Specify a positive value to offset the entire contact surface towards the target surface. Use a
negative value to offset the contact surface away from the target surface.
Note
If user-defined values are input for both CNOF and PINB, you must ensure that PINB
is greater than CNOF. Otherwise, CNOF will be ignored. However, if a user-defined
CNOF is input and the PINB value is left at its default value, the PINB value will be
adjusted so that it is larger than the CNOF value, as described in Using PINB.
Note
For the CONTA177 line-to-surface element, CNOF can be used to model thickness
of the underlying beam elements. Input half of the beam thickness for CNOF to
properly model the thickness effects. See Accounting for Thickness Effect (CNOF and
KEYOPT(11)) (p. 107) for more information.
The program can automatically provide the CNOF value to either just close the gap or reduce
initial penetration. Set KEYOPT(5) as follows:
1: Closes the gap
2: Reduces initial penetration
3: Either closes the gap or reduces initial penetration
Tabular input can also be used to define CNOF. The tabular input can be defined as a function
of time and/or initial contact detection point location (at the beginning of solution) in global
or local coordinates. For more information, see Defining Real Constants in Tabular Format (p. 34).
As an example of when tabular input may be useful, consider the case of a CAD geometry
based on nominal values. The geometry may lack a slight curvature variation that is important
for analysis purposes. Moving nodes to the actual positions can be a tedious process, yet using
the original geometry and neglecting the slight variation in curvature will result in a different
contacting area. Consequently, use of CNOF as a function of location allows you to easily include
curvature that varies with location without having to modify the original CAD geometry.
2. Use the real constant ICONT to specify a small initial contact closure. This is the depth of an "adjustment band" around the target surface. A positive value for ICONT indicates a scaling factor relative
to the depth of the underlying elements. A negative value indicates an absolute contact closure
value. The value of ICONT defaults to zero if KEYOPT(5) = 0, 1, 2, or 3. (The ICONT default is different
when KEYOPT(12) = 6 for bonded-initial contact; see Selecting Surface Interaction Models (p. 62)
for more information). If KEYOPT(5) = 4, the program provides a small (but meaningful) value for
ICONT according to the geometric dimensions, and prints a warning message stating what value
was assigned. Any contact detection points that fall within this adjustment band are internally shifted
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to be on the target surface (see Figure 3.18: Contact Surface Adjustment With ICONT (p. 54)(a)). Only
a very small correction is suggested; otherwise, severe discontinuity may occur (see Figure (b)).
The difference between CNOF and ICONT is that the former shifts the entire contact surface
with the distance value CNOF, the latter moves all initially open contact points which are inside
of adjustment band ICONT onto the target surface.
Figure 3.18: Contact Surface Adjustment With ICONT
Contact
Surface
arget Surface
Potential
discontinuity
I ONT
arget Surface
Contact
Surface
3. Use real constants PMIN and PMAX to specify an initial allowable penetration range. When either
PMAX or PMIN is specified, the program brings the target surface into a state of initial contact at
the beginning of the analysis (see Figure 3.19: Contact Surface Adjustment (PMIN, PMAX) (p. 55)). If
the initial penetration is larger than PMAX, the program adjusts the target surface to reduce penetration. If the initial penetration is smaller than PMIN (and within the pinball region), the program
adjusts the target surface to ensure initial contact. Initial adjustment for contact status is performed
only in translational modes.
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Figure 3.20: A Scenario in Which Initial Adjustment Will Fail
4. Set KEYOPT(9) to adjust initial penetration or gap; see Figure 3.21: Ignoring Initial Penetration, KEYOPT(9) = 1 (p. 58).
True initial penetration includes two parts:
Penetration or gap due to geometry
Penetration or gap due to user-defined contact surface offset (CNOF).
See Figure 3.22: Components of True Penetration (p. 58).
Keep in mind that the effects of KEYOPT(9) are dependent on settings for other KEYOPTs. The
indicated initial gap effect is considered only if KEYOPT(12) = 4 or 5 (no separation always or
bonded always).
KEYOPT(9) offers the following settings for adjusting initial penetration or gap:
To include initial penetration or gap from both geometry and contact surface offset, set
KEYOPT(9) = 0. This is the default.
To ignore initial penetration or gap from both geometry and contact surface offset, set KEYOPT(9) = 1.
To include the defined contact surface offset (CNOF) but ignore the initial penetration or gap
due to geometry, set KEYOPT(9) = 3.
Set KEYOPT(9) = 5 to include the defined contact surface offset (CNOF) but ignore the initial
penetration due to geometry. Even when KEYOPT(12) is not set to 4 or 5, this setting for
KEYOPT(9) will also ignore the initial force in open-gap springs as long as contact is detected
within the pinball region.
For problems such as an interference fit, over-penetration is expected. These problems often
have convergence difficulties if the initial penetration is step-applied in the first load step. You
may overcome convergence difficulties by ramping the initial penetration over the first load
step, see Figure 3.23: Ramping Initial Interference (p. 59). The following KEYOPT(9) settings
provide ramping capabilities:
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
Figure 3.21: Ignoring Initial Penetration, KEYOPT(9) = 1
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The program provides a printout (in the output window or file or via the CNCHECK) of the model's
initial contact state for each target surface at the beginning of the analysis. This information is helpful
for determining the maximum penetration or minimum gap for each target surface.
If no contact is detected for a specific target surface, the program issues a warning. This occurs when
the target surface is far from contact (i.e., outside of the pinball region), or when the contact/target
elements have been killed.
See Positive and Negative Real Constants for more information on these real constants.
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
The initial adjustment due to (a) is applied only once in the beginning of the contact analysis, where
each contact detection point within the ICONT range is made to be in initial contact with the target
surface. The contact adjustments due to (b) and (c) offset the entire contact detection surface to close
any gap that is present. In doing so, methods (b) and (c) introduce a "rigid region" between the contact
and target surfaces during the entire analysis, which can cause a certain amount of residual force if a
large rotation appears at the contact surface. This problem can be alleviated by issuing the
CNCHECK,ADJUST command, which physically moves contact nodes towards the target surface under
the following circumstances:
Only when using the nodal detection option (KEYOPT(4) = 1 or 2), or when using CONTA175 or CONTA177,
or when using CONTA176 with KEYOPT(3) = 0 (parallel beams).
Initially open contact nodes inside the ICONT zone.
Initially penetrated nodes with KEYOPT(9) = 1.
After issuing the CNCHECK,ADJUST command, the coordinates of the nodes that have been moved are
modified as shown in Figure 3.24: Effect of Moving Contact Nodes (p. 60). You can change other contact
related settings in PREP7 (for example, set KEYOPT(4) = 0 to use the Gauss detection option) and save
the Jobname.DB file. Issuing the SAVE command before issuing the CNCHECK,ADJUST command is
recommended in order to resume the Jobname.DB file with the original contact configuration.
For those contact pairs whose contact nodes you do not wish to physically move towards target surface,
do not define KEYOPT(4) = 1 or 2.
Figure 3.24: Effect of Moving Contact Nodes
3.9.9.1. Introduction
The position and motion of a contact element relative to its associated target surface determines the
contact element status. The program monitors each contact element and assigns a status:
STAT = 0 Open far-field contact (open and not near contact)
STAT = 1 Open near-field contact
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Note
If you input a value for real constant CNOF (contact surface offset) and the default PINB value
(as described above) is less than the absolute value of CNOF, the default for PINB will be set
to the absolute value of (1.1*CNOF).
The computational cost of searching for contact depends on the size of the pinball region. Far-field
contact (open and not near contact) element calculations are simple and add little computational demands. The near-field calculations (for contact elements that are nearly or actually in contact) are slower
and more complex. The most complex calculations occur once the elements are in actual contact.
Setting a proper pinball region is useful to overcome spurious contact definitions if the target surface
has several convex regions. However, the default setting should be appropriate for most contact problems.
Note
The program will warn you when there is an abrupt change in status (for example, from farfield to closed) during a contact analysis. This may indicate that the substep increment is
too large, or possibly (but not likely) that the pinball value (PINB) is too small.
See Positive and Negative Real Constants for more information on this real constant.
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
Figure 3.25: Auto Spurious Prevention
Contact normal
Location where
spurious contact
most likely occurs
Target normal
The program alerts you when it first detects spurious contact in each load step. If the program encounters
such contact on the first load step, you'll see the following error message:
Contact element x has too much penetration related to target element y. We
assume it (may be more elements) is spurious contact.
If the program encounters an abrupt change in contact that it classifies as spurious contact, you'll see
the following message:
Contact element x status changed abruptly with target element y. We assume
it (may be more elements) is spurious contact.
The program issues such messages only once per load step. It does not notify you of additional cases
of spurious contact that were ignored during the load step.
3.9.11.1. Introduction
The surface-to-surface contact elements support normal unilateral contact models as well as other
mechanical surface interaction models.
As an alternative to the program-supplied contact interactions, you can define your own interfacial
model with the USERINTER subroutine (see User-Defined Subroutines for Contact Interfacial Behaviors (p. 71)).
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Note
For bonded contact definitions (KEYOPT(12) = 5 or 6), if the contact is not in a just touching
position, you may find that no zero modes appear for free vibration. To avoid this issue, use
the MPC approach instead of other contact algorithms.
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
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Note
In the case of a penalty-based shell-shell assembly, spurious rotational energy exists if there
are gaps or penetrations between the contact and target surfaces. This can affect the accuracy
of the solution. In this case it is recommended that you use a shell-solid constraint type by
setting KEYOPT(5) = 3, 4, or 5 on the target element, which requires use of the MPC algorithm
(KEYOPT(2) = 2 on the contact element).
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
3.9.12.1. Introduction
The surface-to-surface contact elements can model a rigid body (or one linear elastic body) contacting
another linear elastic body undergoing small motions. These elastic bodies can be modeled using superelements, which greatly reduces the number of degrees of freedom involved in the contact iteration.
Remember that any contact or target nodes must be either all master nodes of the superelements or
all slave nodes of the superelements. When the contact pair is built in original elements used to generate
superelements, the contact status will not change from its initial status.
Because the superelement consists only of a group of retained nodal degrees of freedom, it has no
surface geometry on which the program can define a contact and target surface. Therefore, the contact
and target surface must be defined on the surface of the original elements before they are assembled
into a superelement. Information taken from the superelement includes nodal connection and assembly
stiffness, but no material property or stress states (whether axisymmetric, plane stress, or plane strain).
One restriction is that the material property set used for the contact elements must be the same as the
one used for the original elements before they were assembled into superelements.
Note
KEYOPT(3) has different meanings in other situations. For more information, see the description
of KEYOPT(3) in Element KEYOPTS (p. 35).
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3.9.13.1. Introduction
Rigid body motion often occurs in the beginning of an analysis due to the fact that the initial contact
condition is not well established. The causes may include:
Small gaps between element meshes on both sides of the element pair can be introduced by numerical
round-off, even if the solid model is built in an initially-contacting state.
Small gaps can exist between the integration points of the contact elements and target surface elements.
For surface projection based contact, a numerical gap distance can exist even though geometric penetration
is observed at a contact node. This can occur because the numerical distance is obtained over the overlapping area in an average sense.
For standard contact (KEYOPT(12) = 0) or rough contact (KEYOPT(12) = 1), you can use real constants
FDMN and FDMT to define contact damping scaling factors along contact normal and tangential directions. The primary goal of this contact stabilization technique is to damp relative motions between the
contact and target surfaces for open contact. It provides a certain amount of resistance to reduce the
risk of rigid body motion.
The damping forces are calculated by:
n c
dn =
dt
where Vn and Vt are the relative velocities along the normal and tangential directions, and Ac is the
area domain of the contact surface. The units of the damping coefficients of FDMN and FDMT are
FORCE/(AREA*VELOCITY). For the contact force-based model (used by CONTA175, CONTA176, and
CONTA177), the units are FORCE/VELOCITY.
The specified damping coefficients should be large enough to prevent rigid body motion, but small
enough to insure a solution. The ideal values are fully dependent on the specific problem, the time of
the load step, and the number of substeps.
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1. Gauss point based contact (KEYOPT(4) = 0) or surface projection based contact (KEYOPT(4) = 3) is
used.
2. The entire contact pair is in open status.
3. A geometric penetration is detected at any contact nodal point, despite condition 2 above.
Without this automatic contact stabilization, rigid body motion may occur. If you wish to deactivate
automatic contact stabilization, you can simply set KEYOPT(15) = 1.
You can activate contact stabilization damping manually by specifying real constants FDMN and FDMT.
Use a positive value of FDMN to specify a damping scaling factor in the normal direction. FDMN defaults
to 1.0. You can overwrite the internal normal damping coefficient by specifying a negative value. The
units of the damping coefficient are FORCE/(AREA*VELOCITY). For the contact force-based model (used
by CONTA175, CONTA176, and CONTA177), the units are FORCE/VELOCITY.
Use a positive value of FDMT to specify a damping scaling factor in the tangential direction. The tangential contact damping is activated only when the normal damping is activated. FDMT defaults to
0.001. You can overwrite the internally calculated tangential damping coefficient by specifying a user
defined value (use a negative value for command input). The units of the damping coefficient are
FORCE/(AREA*VELOCITY). For the contact force-based model (used by CONTA175, CONTA176, and
CONTA177), the units are FORCE/VELOCITY.
Both FDMN and FDMT can be defined as a function of primary variables by using tabular input (i.e.,
%tabname%). The possible primary variables include time, temperature, initial contact detection point
location (at the beginning of solution), and current geometric gap distance (positive GAP index values
indicate penetration, negative GAP index values indicate an open gap). For more information, see Defining Real Constants in Tabular Format (p. 34).
The user subroutine USERCNPROP.F is also available for defining FDMN and FDMT. To use this subroutine,
you must specify the table name %_CNPROP% as the real constant value. For more information, see
Defining Real Constants via a User Subroutine (p. 35).
The contact stabilization damping is activated if all of the following conditions are met:
Standard contact (KEYOPT(12) = 0) or rough contact (KEYOPT(12) = 1)
Contact status is near-field
The first load step, unless KEYOPT(15) = 2 or 3
The entire contact pair has an open contact status in the previous substep, unless KEYOPT(15) = 3
When KEYOPT(15) = 0, 1, or 2, stabilization damping will not be applied in the current substep if any
contact detection point had a closed status in the previous substep. However, when KEYOPT(15) = 3,
stabilization damping is always applied as long as the current contact status is near-field, regardless of
the contact status of the previous substep.
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3.9.14.1. Introduction
You can account for the thickness of shells (2-D and 3-D) and beams (2-D) using KEYOPT(11). (This does
not apply to 3-D beam-to-beam contact.) For rigid-to-flexible contact, the program automatically shifts
the contact surface to the bottom or top of the shell/beam surface. For flexible-to-flexible contact, the
program automatically shifts both the contact and target surfaces which are attached to shell/beam
elements. By default, the program does not account for the element thickness, and beams and shells
are discretized at their mid-surface in which penetration distance is calculated from the mid-surface.
Note
Only use KEYOPT(11) = 1 to account for thickness when you have shell or beam elements
with nodes located at the middle surface.
When building your model geometry, if you are going to account for thickness, remember the offsets
which may come from either the contact surface or target surface or from both. When you specify a
contact offset (CNOF) along with setting KEYOPT(11) = 1, it is defined from the top or bottom of the
shell/beam, not the mid-surface. When used with SHELL181, SHELL208, SHELL209, SHELL281, or ELBOW290, changes in thickness during deformation are also taken into account.
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
Note that KEYOPT(11) is not used with the line-to-line contact element (CONTA176). For the line-tosurface contact element (CONTA177) KEYOPT(11) is only used for shell elements on the target side.
Note
For shell and beam contact, the penetration and gap distances are always measured from
the midsurface of the shell or beam element. Any defined offset of the shell or beam element
is ignored by the contact elements.
3.9.15.1. Introduction
Time step control is an automatic time stepping feature that predicts when the status of a contact
element will change and cuts the current time step back.
Impact constraints are used in a transient dynamic analysis to satisfy the momentum and energy balance
at the contact and target interface. See Dynamic Contact and Impact Modeling (p. 145) for more information.
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
For more information on the /UPF command and other methods of implementing user subroutines,
see Compiling and Linking UPFs on Linux Systems and Compiling and Linking UPFs on Windows Systems
in the Guide to User-Programmable Features.
! NSET is the real constant set ID associated with the contact pair
You can define the real constant as a function of certain input arguments as described in the following
table:
USERCNPROP
Input Argument
Description
kstat
Contact status
stress(1)
stress(2)
stress(3)
stress(4)
stress(5)
stress(6)
Certain passed-in arguments such as contact status (kstat), contact pressure (stress(3)), and tangential
stresses (stress(1) and stress(2)) are not current (that is, from the current iteration) for real constants
FKN, TAUMAX, CNOF, FKOP, FKT, PPCN. FDMN, FDMT. In this case, the values from the previous iteration
are used instead. However, the contact status, contact pressure, and tangential stresses are current for
all non-structural related real constants (such as TCC, ECC, MCC, RDVF).
Other input arguments include those listed in the following table. These arguments are all current.
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Description
strain(1)
strain(2)
strain(3)
Normal penetration/gap (positive value represents penetration, negative value represents gap)
strain(4)
strain(5)
strain(6)
strain(7)
strain0(i)
intIn(1) to intIn(21)
realIn(1) to realIn(12)
Real constants can be defined in the time or frequency domain, depending on the analysis type. For
static and transient analyses, the input argument realIn(7) represents the current time value. For harmonic analysis, realIn(7) represents the current frequency value.
You can also define your real constants as a function of extra solution-dependent state variables. The
extra state variables can be updated and used within the user subroutine. Use the NSVR command to
specify the number of extra state variables that need to be saved for the USERCNPROP subroutine, as
described in the table of input/output arguments shown below.
USERCNPROP
Input/Output
Argument
Description
Notes
usvr
keyerr
Key to indicate if there are any element formulation errors such as abrupt changes in
contact status or too much penetration. The
error could be caused by an incremental step
that is too large or an illegal model.
= 0, no error (preset value before
calling)
= 1, error(s) occurred
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
USERCNPROP
Input/Output
Argument
Description
Notes
Description
Notes
cnprop(1)
cnprop(2)
cnprop(3)
cnprop(4)
If the real constant is not a function of temperature at the contact point, you simply return cnprop(4) = 0.0.
cnprop(5)
Derivative of the real constant with If the real constant is not a function of temperatrespect to temperature at the target ure at the target, you simply return cnprop(5) =
0.0.
The subroutine can be called multiple times for a contact detection point during each iteration, based
on how many real constants are defined through the label %_CNPROP%. Be careful to define the correct
position of the user-defined variables (usvr) during each call. Otherwise, the previously defined variables
could be overwritten during subsequent access to the subroutine within an iteration.
You can preassign the contact pair ID (RID in the example below) to a parameter (PAIRID in the example
below) and then call subroutine PAREVL inside of USERCNPROP to get the contact pair ID. Follow the
example below as a template for using this function inside of USERCNPROP:
cName = 'PAIRID'
subc(1) = 0.0d0
call parevl(cName,0,subc(1),2,RID,string,kerr)
In this way, one unified USERCNPROP routine can handle contact properties not only for different real
constants, but also for different contact pairs.
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Field variables specified with the TBFIELD command are not available for TB,FRIC,,,,USER.
Use the NSVR command to specify the number of extra state variables that need to be saved for the
USERFRIC subroutine.
Use the USEROU subroutine to store user-supplied element outputs in non-summable miscellaneous
(NMISC) records. You must enter the USRCAL command in order to activate the USEROU subroutine.
The maximum number of user-defined output items should not exceed the number of user-defined
state variables.
The USERFRIC subroutine is called at the contact detection point when the contact is closed.
Some of the input arguments are described in the following table:
USERFRIC Input Argument
Description
dslip(ncomp)
pres
tau(ncomp)
kn
kt
Notes
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
USERFRIC Input Argument
Description
Notes
be kt = mu*kn. For the Lagrange multiplier
method (KEYOPT(2) = 4), you should use a small
kt (several orders of magnitude smaller than
mu*pres).
tcont
ttarg
uprop(npropu)
kupdhis
Description
Contact status:
far-field (kstat = 0)
near-field (kstat = 1)
sliding (kstat = 2)
sticking (kstat = 3)
Notes
tau(ncomp)
slip(ncomp)
mu
Friction coefficient
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Description
Notes
dt(i,j)
dtdp(ncomp)
usvr(nuval)
fdiss
elener
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
TB,INTER,1,,2,USER
TBDATA,1,PROP1,PROP2
Field variables specified with the TBFIELD command are not available for TB,INTER,,,,USER.
Use the NSVR command to specify the number of extra state variables that need to be saved for the
USERINTER subroutine.
Use the USEROU subroutine to store user-supplied element outputs in non-summable miscellaneous
(NMISC) records. You must enter the USRCAL command in order to activate the USEROU subroutine.
The maximum number of user-defined output items should not exceed the number of user-defined
state variables.
The USERINTER subroutine is called at each contact detection point in each iteration.
In a structural analysis, you must define the current stresses. In a coupled thermal-structural analysis or
a coupled thermal-electrical-structural analysis, you must also define the heat flux and electric current
density, respectively, across the interface for the current time. The interaction calculation is based on
(a) the relative motion between the contact detection point and the associated intersecting target point,
(b) temperatures, and (c) user-defined state variables. The state variables can be used and updated
within this subroutine. You must also define the material tangent modulus (interface stiffness matrix)
to ensure proper convergence behavior.
If effects of contact damping are taken into account, you need to define the interface damping matrix.
The interface damping matrix can be used in a complex modal analysis, a full transient structural analysis, or a harmonic analysis at a given frequency.
Some of the input arguments are described in the following table:
USERINTER Input Argument
Description
Notes
dslip(ncomp)
strain(1)
Mechanical component.
strain(2)
Mechanical component.
strain(3)
strain(4)
strain(5)
Temperature at the target intersect- This argument is generally used for coupled
ing point
thermal-structural or thermal-electric-structural
analysis. The temperature components strain(4)
and strain(5) can also be used for a structural
analysis as long as they are defined through
temperature loadings.
strain(6)
Voltage difference between contact This argument is used for coupled thermal-elecand target
tric-structural analysis.
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Description
uprop(npropu)
kupdhis
intIn(1) to intIn(20)
realIn(1) to
realIn(14)
Notes
The USERINTER subroutine can be used in the time or frequency domain, depending on the analysis
type. For static and transient analyses, the input argument realIn(7) represents the current time value.
For harmonic analysis, the input argument realIn(7) represents the current frequency value.
Some of the input/output arguments are described in the following table:
USERINTER Input/Output
Argument
kstat
Description
Contact status:
far-field (kstat = 0)
near-field (kstat = 1)
sliding (kstat = 2)
sticking (kstat = 3)
Notes
stress(1)
stress(2)
stress(3)
stress(4)
Heat flux (per area) flowing into the Defined for a coupled thermal-structural or a
contact surface (positive value is
thermal-electric-structural analysis.
heat flowing out of the surface;
negative value is heat flowing into
the surface)
stress(5)
Heat flux (per area) flowing into the Defined for a coupled thermal-structural or a
target surface (positive value is heat thermal-electric-structural analysis.
flowing out of the surface; negative
value is heat flowing into the surface)
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79
Surface-to-Surface Contact
USERINTER Input/Output
Argument
Description
Notes
stress(6)
usvr(nuval)
mu
Friction coefficient
keycnv
Description
Notes
dtdp(ncomp)
damp(3,3)
Interface damping matrix (structure This argument contributes to the element damponly)
ing matrix.
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Description
Notes
fdiss
elener
keyerr
Key to indicate if there are any element formulation errors such as abrupt changes in
contact status or too much penetration. The
error could be caused by an incremental step
that is too large or an illegal model.
= 0, no error (preset value before
calling)
= 1, error(s) occurred
The program decides to stop the analysis or
cutback the substep (bi-section) based on
other user input and information at a higher
level.
When using a Lagrange multiplier method for normal constraint (KEYOPT(2) = 3 or 4), you should pick
a very small normal contact stiffness, kn (several orders of magnitude smaller than the contact pressure).
The passed-in normal pressure (stress(3)) includes the contribution from the normal Lagrange multiplier.
When using the Lagrange multiplier method for tangential constraint (KEYOPT(2) = 4), you should pick
a very small tangential contact stiffness, kt (several orders of magnitude smaller than mu*pressure). The
passed-in tangential stresses (stress(1), stress(2)) include the contributions from the tangential Lagrange
multipliers.
Use the following example as a template to activate the user subroutines.
You can preassign the contact pair ID (RID in the example below) to a parameter (PAIRID in the example
below) and then call subroutine PAREVL inside of USERINTER to get the contact pair ID. Follow the example below as a template for using this function inside of USERINTER:
cName = 'PAIRID'
subc(1) = 0.0d0
call parevl(cName,0,subc(1),2,RID,string,kerr)
In this way, one unified USERINTER routine can handle different interactions based on contact pair ID.
Example 3.1: Using the /UPF Command to Link USERINTER
! The /UPF command offers the simplest method for linking
! user-programmable features into ANSYS.
! It cannot be used when ANSYS is run in interactive mode
!
/UPF,userinter.F
/UPF,userou.F
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
/prep7
!
! define contact type
!
ITYPE = 4
et,ITYPE,172
!
!Define user interactions
!
TB,INTER,1, ,1,USER
tbdata,1,0.42 ! define friction coefficient.
!Additional saved variables
! The size of this array is:
! no of variables(nuval)* no of integration points(nintp).
!
nsvr,ITYPE,5*2
/solu
!
! Activate user subroutine userou
!
usrcal,userou
solve
/post1
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
the rigid target surface is not under-constrained or over-constrained. It is still recommended that you
apply all boundary conditions on the pilot node, even when KEYOPT(2) = 1.
Note
For flexible-to-flexible contact, no special boundary conditions treatment is performed, and
KEYOPT(2) = 0 should be used.
Starting Point
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The pressure is applied only on the corner nodes of the contact and target elements. The pressure on
the midside nodes of CONTA172, CONTA174, TARGE169, and TARGE170 will be averaged using the
pressures of two adjacent corner nodes. VAL3 and VAL4 are not used for 2-D contact and target elements.
Pressure value VALi, which is applied to the ith node (where i = 1, 2, 3, 4 indicates node I, J, K, L, respectively) of the contact or target element, can be a constant numerical value or a table name. If it is
constant, the magnitude of pressure will be step-applied or ramped based on the KBC command setting.
To specify a table, enclose the table name in percent signs (i.e., %tabname%). Use the *DIM command
to define the table. Only one table can be specified, and it must be specified in the VAL1 position;
tables specified in the VAL2, VAL3, and VAL4 positions will be ignored.
The fluid pressure-penetration load will be automatically applied to the penetrating points on contact
and target surfaces based on the contact status.
By default (KEYOPT(14) = 0 on the contact element), the fluid pressure-penetration load varies during
iterations based on the current contact status. In certain cases, the default can cause an unstable convergence pattern since the contact status and the resulting applied fluid penetration load keep changing
during iterations.
When KEYOPT(14) = 1, the fluid pressure-penetration load will be applied to the contact and target
elements at the beginning of each substep and will remain constant over that substep even if the
contact status keeps changing during iterations. Small increments are often needed to obtain accurate
results.
Keep the following points in mind when defining fluid penetration loads:
For flexible-to-flexible contact with a symmetric contact pair definition (including a self-contact pair), you
should apply the fluid pressure only to the contact elements.
For flexible-to-flexible contact with an asymmetric contact pair definition, you should generally apply
fluid pressure on both contact and target elements which are currently or will potentially be exposed to
the surrounding fluid. The program ignores fluid penetration loads applied to a target surface if there are
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85
Surface-to-Surface Contact
no fluid penetration loads applied to the associated contact surface within the contact pair. When the
fluid pressures are applied to both contact and target elements, the program has to identify the penetration
paths for both the contact surface and the target surface. The iterative process of determining the penetration path on the target surface is very time-consuming, particularly for 3-D contact models. Use a symmetric contact pair definition, therefore, as it does not require the specification of fluid penetration pressure
on the target surface.
For rigid-to-flexible contact, you should apply the fluid pressure only to the contact elements. The program
automatically applies equivalent forces to the rigid target surface to balance out the applied pressure on
the contact surface. Fluid pressure applied to the rigid target surface will be ignored.
For situations in which multiple contact pairs are defined on the same surface, contact elements may
overlap each other. In this case, be careful to apply the fluid penetration pressure only once in areas where
contact elements overlap.
The fluid penetration pressure can only be applied to the contact and target elements using the SFE
command. Other pressure load commands (SF, SFL, SFA) can not be used. In addition, you should not
apply the pressure on the underlying elements.
The program ignores any fluid penetration pressures applied to MPC based contact pairs.
The effects of pressure load stiffness are automatically included. If an unsymmetric matrix is needed to
achieve convergence for pressure load stiffness effects, issue the NROPT,UNSYM command.
Contact Surface
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Target Surface
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STAi =
0 (default)
The program determines whether the ith node is a starting point based on the contact status.
The ith node can be a default starting point if the node is a 2-D free point or is on a 3-D free
edge.
STAi =
1
The ith node is the starting point which is initially exposed to the fluid. It can be a penetrating
point if the initial contact status is "open." The node may no-longer be the starting point
when the contact status changes during the deformation process.
STAi =
2
The ith node is a penetrating point. The node is always subjected to the fluid pressure in spite
of any contact status change.
STAi =
-1
The ith node will not be a default starting point even though it belongs to a 2-D free point
or a 3-D free edge node.
Note
If only STA1 is specified and the other STAi values are blank, STA2, STA3, and STA4 will
default to STA1.
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
stantaneously, convergence difficulties may arise due to large changes in stresses near the contact interface. This is also true when the fluid penetration pressure is removed instantaneously, as when the
fluid penetration is cut off. To help stabilize the solution, the program offers an option to ramp the
fluid pressure linearly over a time period, during one or several substeps.
To implement this ramping option, specify the fluid penetration acting time using the contact element
real constant FPAT. Input a positive number to define the fraction of the time increment of the load
step; input a negative number to define the absolute acting time. The default penetration acting time
is 0.01 times the time increment of the current load step.
At each penetrating point, if the time increment of the current substep is less than the fluid penetration
acting time (FPAT > (tn - tn-1)), the fluid pressure is ramped up linearly from the actual applied pressure
of the previous substep to the full current amount of the fluid pressure over the penetration acting
time period; otherwise (FPAT (tn - tn-1)), the full amount of current fluid pressure will be applied. (See
figures below.) At the pressure-penetration cutoff points, if the time increment of the current substep
is less than the fluid penetration acting time, the fluid pressure is ramped down linearly from the applied
pressure of the previous substep to a zero magnitude over the penetration acting time period; otherwise,
the fluid pressure will be immediately removed.
Figure 3.29: Fluid Penetration Acting Time (FPAT) Greater Than Substep
Pressure
(tn-1)
FPAT
Time
tn-1
tn
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FPAT
Time
tn-1
tn
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
PLESOL,CONT,FPRS
PLNSOL,CONT,FPRS
You can also list and display the fluid penetration pressure applied on target elements by using the
ETABLE command.
Note
A reliable way to set an accurate time step size is to turn automatic time stepping on.
The following options are automatically invoked, but may override them if needed.
Command(s): AUTOTS,ON
GUI: Main Menu> Solution> Analysis Type> Sol'n Control ( : Basic Tab)
Main Menu> Solution> Unabridged Menu> Load Step Opts> Time/Frequenc> Time-Time Step or
Time and Substps
If the contact status changes during the iteration process, discontinuity can occur. To avoid a slow
convergence rate and use an updated stiffness matrix, set the Newton-Raphson option to FULL.
Command(s): NROPT,FULL,,OFF
GUI: Main Menu> Solution> Unabridged Menu> Analysis Type> Analysis Options
Also, do not use adaptive descent. Adaptive descent usually does not provide any help for surface-tosurface contact applications, and we recommend turning it off.
In cases where frictional sliding dominates, set the unsymmetric solver option (NROPT, UNSYM,,OFF)
to avoid slow convergence or divergence.
Set the number of equilibrium equations to a number that is appropriate for a reasonable time step
size. This command defaults to between 15 and 26 iterations, depending upon the physics of the
problem.
Command(s): NEQIT
GUI: Main Menu> Solution> Analysis Type> Sol'n Control ( : Nonlinear Tab)
Main Menu> Solution> Unabridged Menu> Load Step Opts> Nonlinear> Equilibrium Iter
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Note
For most small strains, small displacements, and small sliding problems, set NLGEOM, OFF.
This setting will speed up the searching time; however, if the contact problem involves large
sliding, set NLGEOM, ON.
Note
By default, displacement (U) and rotation (ROT) convergence checking are not active. Issue
the CNVTOL,U or CNVTOL,ROT command to add displacement or rotation convergence
checking, if necessary.
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
according to the specified writing frequency (each iteration, substep, or load step). The resulting
output is stored in a text file called Jobname.cnd.
By default, contact pair output quantities are written to the output file (Jobname.OUT) or to the
screen, as specified by the /OUTPUT command. You can redirect contact pair output to a text file
named Jobname.CNM by issuing the command CNTR,OUT,YES before the solution begins.
Always check your results carefully using standard engineering guidelines.
See Solve the Analysis in the Structural Analysis Guide.
If you are restarting a contact analysis, follow the normal restart procedures as discussed in Restarting
an Analysis in the Basic Analysis Guide. However, be aware that the constraint conditions of target surfaces
may have been set internally. Verify the constraints carefully before restarting an analysis. Only the real
constants FKN, FTOLN, PINB, and FKOP can be changed, and they can only be changed at the point of
restart or at the beginning of a new load step.
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STAT
Contact status[1]:
3-closed and sticking
2-closed and sliding
1-open but near contact (near-field)
0-open and not near contact (far-field)
PENE
Contact penetration
PRES[2]
Contact pressure
SFRIC[2]
STOT[2]
SLIDE
GAP
FLUX
CNOS
FPRS
1. For MPC-based contact definitions, the value of STAT can be negative. This indicates that one or more
contact constraints were intentionally removed to prevent over-constraint. STAT = -3 is used for MPC
bonded contact; STAT = -2 is used for MPC no-separation contact. Negative values are valid for CONTA171,
CONTA172, CONTA173, CONTA174, CONTA175, CONTA176, and CONTA177.
2. For the contact force-based model (used for CONTA175 with KEYOPT(3) = 0, CONTA176 with KEYOPT(3)
= 0 or 1, and CONTA177 with KEYOPT(3) = 0), PRES, SFRIC, and STOT are the contact normal force, contact
friction force, and total contact force, respectively.
For rigid-to-flexible contact or asymmetric flexible-to-flexible contact, the contact element provides the
true pressure and friction stress. However, for symmetric flexible-to-flexible contact, the true pressure
and friction stress is the average of the pressures and friction stresses from both sides of the contact
elements.
Note
The contact results are only reported at the corner nodes of contact elements. Therefore, for
higher order contact elements, mid-side node contact can occur without pressure being reported. In this case, the elements contact status and contact pressure reported via ETABLE
may give more precise information.
Note that the contact-specific information (CONT) plots as follows. For 2-D contact analyses, the model
will plot in gray and the requested item will be contoured as an area (trapezoid) along the edge of the
model where the contact elements are located. Use the FACT item to scale 2-D contour size. For 3-D
contact analyses, the model will plot in gray and the requested item will be contoured as a 2-D surface
where the contact elements overlay the model.
For tabular listings, you may also list contact-specific information by using the CONT label and its arguments with the PRNSOL or PRESOL commands or their related menu items.
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Surface-to-Surface Contact
You should not use the PLESOL or PRESOL command to obtain contact forces for contact elements.
The force values reported by these commands may not be accurate for these elements. Instead, use
the ETABLE command to obtain contact force values.
Various sliding/slip quantities are reported through the ETABLE command. The table below described
these quantities for the 3-D case.
TASS/TASR
Algebraic sum of sliding components in S and R directions when the contact status
is sliding or sticking (STAT = 2, 3).
AASS/AASR
Absolute sum of sliding components in S and R directions when the contact status
is sliding or sticking F(STAT = 2, 3).
SLIDE
GSLID
Amplitude of total accumulated sliding when the contact status is near-field, sliding,
or sticking (STAT = 1, 2, 3).
ELSI
Total equivalent elastic slip. This represents the reversible tangential motion from
the point of zero tangential stresses.
PLSI
Total equivalent tangential plastic slip. This represents the accumulated irreversible
frictional sliding when the contact status is sliding (STAT = 2).
VREL
You can also animate contact results over time. See the ANTIME command for details.
Command(s): ANTIME
GUI: Utility Menu> PlotCtrls> Animate> Over Time
If you used CNCHECK,POST to evaluate the initial contact state, you can view the contact results items
for the initial contact configuration as you would for any other load step. To do so, you must explicitly
read the results of the first load step from the results file Jobname.RCN by issuing the FILE and
SET,FIRST commands before postprocessing. Otherwise, the result file may be read improperly.
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I
Y (or Axial)
CONTA175
Y
I CONTA175
target normal
target normal
X
z
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Node-to-Surface Contact
Does not support 3-D contact surfaces with midside nodes, but can support 2-D/3-D target surfaces
with midside nodes or 2-D contact surfaces with midside nodes.
Generates elements using the ESURF command, as do the surface-to-surface contact elements.
Supports structural, thermal, electric, and magnetic analyses.
Note
CONTA175 is recommended for point-to-surface or edge-to-surface problems. It can also be
used to supplement a surface-to-surface pair at strategic locations where edge contact exists.
For general surface-to-surface contact, CONTA171 through CONTA174 are recommended.
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4.2.1.1. KEYOPT(3)
KEYOPT(3) in CONTA175 allows you to choose between a contact force-based model (KEYOPT(3) = 0,
default), and a contact traction-based model (KEYOPT(3) = 1). For the contact traction-based model,
the program determines the area associated with the contact node. For the single point contact case,
a unit area is used which is equivalent to the contact force-based model.
When the traction-based model is defined, the real constants FKN, FKT, TNOP, TCC, ECC, and MCC have
the same units used in surface-to-surface contact elements (CONTA171 through CONTA174), as do
postprocessing items such as PRES, TAUR, TAUS, SFRIC, and so on.
When the force-based model is defined, the units of these quantities have a factor of AREA with respect
to those used in the traction-based model. For example, contact stiffness FKN has units FORCE/LENGTH
for the force-based model, but FORCE/LENGTH3 for the traction-based model; PRES is the contact normal
force in the force-based model, but contact pressure in the traction-based model. See the CONTA175
element description for detailed information on the units for these quantities.
The traction-based model (KEYOPT(3) = 1) should not be used if the underlying elements are 3-D beam
or pipe elements.
4.2.1.2. KEYOPT(4)
KEYOPT(4) in CONTA175 allows you to choose the contact normal direction. The contact normal can
be either perpendicular to the target surface (KEYOPT(4) = 0, default or KEYOPT(4) = 3), or perpendicular
to the contact surface (KEYOPT(4) = 1, 2). When contact occurs on the bottom surface of a shell or
beam, and shell thickness effect is included (KEYOPT(11) = 1), or CNOF is defined, KEYOPT(4) = 2 or 3
should be used in order to capture the contact.
Real constant TOLS is used to add a small tolerance that will internally extend the edge of the target
surface. TOLS is useful for problems where contact nodes are likely to lie on the edge of the target (as
at symmetry planes or for models generated in a node-to-node contact pattern). In these situations,
the contact node may repeatedly slip off the target surface and so completely out of contact, resulting
in convergence difficulties from oscillations.
Units for TOLS are percent (1.0 implies a 1.0% increase in the target edge length). A small value of TOLS
will usually prevent this situation from occurring. The default value is 10 for small deflection and 2 for
large deflection (NLGEOM,ON).
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Y
J
X
Z
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99
rt
TARGE170
n
rc
d
CONTA176
Figure 5.3: External Contact (Two Beams Roughly Parallel)
CONTA176
rc
rt
TARGE170
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rc
rt
TARGE170
For all three scenarios shown above, use 3-D line segments (straight line or parabola) to define the
target surface (TARGE170). You can attach the contact elements and target elements to 3-D beams or
pipes, which can be first or second order elements. Both flexible-flexible and rigid-flexible contact
between two beams can be considered.
When modeling internal contact, the inner beam (or pipe) should usually be considered the contact
surface and the outer beam (or pipe) should be the target surface. The inner beam can be considered
as the target surface only when the inner beam is much stiffer than the outer beam. When modeling
external contact, the target surface should be associated with the stiffer beam or with the beam having
the coarser mesh.
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101
The line can be made up of linear or parabolic segments, depending on whether the attached beam is
made up of first order or second order elements. If the nodal ordering of the underlying beam elements
is not consistent, you must either change them by reversing the node number order of the selected
elements (ESURF,,REVERSE command) or make a consistent element ordering (ENORM command).
You can list the CONTA176 results using the PRESOL,CONT or PRETAB commands. Since CONTA176 is
a 3-D line element, you can also use the PLLS command to display element table items.
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Actual beam
Contact surface
Use the first real constant, R1, to define the radius on the target side (target radius rt). Use the second
real constant, R2, to define the radius on the contact side (contact radius rc).
The contact radius R2 is always a positive number. The target radius R1 can be entered as either a
negative or positive value. Use a negative value when modeling internal contact (a beam or pipe sliding
within another beam or pipe), with the input value equal to the inner radius of the outer beam. Use a
positive value when modeling external contact between the exterior surfaces of two cylindrical beams.
For beam-to-beam contact, the thickness effect is accounted for through the contact and target radii.
Therefore, KEYOPT(11) (which is used for the surface-to-surface contact elements to include or exclude
thickness effects) is not used for CONTA176.
5.3.1.2. KEYOPT(3)
For CONTA176, KEYOPT(3) determines the type of beam-to-beam contact as follows:
Use KEYOPT(3) = 0 or 2 to model external contact between parallel beams or internal contact between
beams (a beam inside a hollow beam or a pipe inside a pipe). For this case, the sign of the target radius,
R1, will determine whether you are modeling parallel beams (R1 > 0) or a beam inside a beam (R1 < 0).
Use KEYOPT(3) = 1 or 3 to model beams that cross. The target radius must be a positive value.
KEYOPT(3) also allows you to choose between a contact force-based model (KEYOPT(3) = 0 or 1), and
a contact traction-based model (KEYOPT(3) = 2 or 3). For the contact traction-based model, the program
determines the area (based on beam element length and the contact radius, R2) associated with the
contact node.
When the traction-based model is specified, certain real constants (FKN, FKT, TNOP) and postprocessing
items (PRES, TAUR, TAUS, SFRIC, and so on) have the same units as in the surface-to-surface contact
elements (CONTA171 through CONTA174).
When the force-based model is specified, the units of these quantities have a factor of AREA with respect
to those used in the traction-based model. For example, contact stiffness FKN has units FORCE/LENGTH
for the force-based model, but FORCE/LENGTH3 for the traction-based model; PRES is the contact normal
force in the force-based model, but contact pressure in the traction-based model. See the CONTA176
element description for detailed information on the units for these quantities.
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5.3.1.4. KEYOPT(4)
You can use CONTA176 with the multipoint constraint (MPC) approach (KEYOPT(2) = 2) to define surfacebased constraints. The KEYOPT(4) setting will determine the type of surface-based constraint. Set KEYOPT(4) = 1 for a force-distributed constraint, or set KEYOPT(4) = 0 for a rigid surface constraint. See
Surface-based Constraints for more information.
104
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X
Z
J
K
I
I
K J
CONTA177
Edge of
shell elements
105
Line-to-Surface Contact
The line can be made up of linear or parabolic segments, depending on whether the attached beam
or shell edge is made up of first order or second order elements. If the nodal ordering of the underlying
beam elements is not consistent, you must either change them by reversing the node number order
of the selected elements (ESURF,,REVERSE command) or make a consistent element ordering (ENORM
command).
You can list the CONTA177 results using the PRESOL,CONT or PRETAB commands. Since CONTA177 is
a 3-D line element, you can also use the PLLS command to display element table items.
106
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6.2.1.1. KEYOPT(3)
For CONTA177, KEYOPT(3) allows you to choose between a contact force-based model (KEYOPT(3) =
0), and a contact traction-based model (KEYOPT(3) = 1). For the contact traction-based model, the
program determines the area (based on the beam element length and beam section radius) associated
with the contact node.
When the traction-based model is specified, certain real constants (FKN, FKT, TNOP) and postprocessing
items (PRES, TAUR, TAUS, SRIC, and so on) have the same units as in the surface-to-surface contact
elements (CONTA171 through CONTA174).
When the force-based model is specified, the units of these quantities have a factor of AREA with respect
to those used in the traction-based model. For example, contact stiffness FKN has units FORCE/LENGTH
for the force-based model, but FORCE/LENGTH3 for the traction-based model. Furthermore, PRES is the
contact normal force in the force-based model, but contact pressure in the traction-based model. See
the CONTA177 element description for detailed information on the units for these quantities.
6.2.1.4. KEYOPT(4)
You can use CONTA177 with the multipoint constraint (MPC) approach (KEYOPT(2) = 2) to define surfacebased constraints. The KEYOPT(4) setting will determine the type of surface-based constraint. Set KEYOPT(4) = 1 for a force-distributed constraint, or set KEYOPT(4) = 0 for a rigid surface constraint. See
Surface-based Constraints for more information.
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107
108
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Note
When KEYOPT(1) is set to 2 (thermal DOF only), the program ignores heat generation due
to friction.
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109
Multiphysics Contact
Free-Surface Contact: Heat convection and radiation between the contact surface and the environment are
taken into account.The external flux value only contributes to both contact and target surfaces. Free-surface
contact refers to either far-field contact or a user-specified free thermal surface (KEYOPT(3) = 1 on the target
element).
Target
Target temperature
at the intersection
Far-field
contact
Contact
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Note
If CONV is not defined through the SFE command, real constant TCC will be used instead
for modeling convection between two opening surfaces only if tabular input or a user subroutine is used. In this case, TCC can be made a function of temperature [(T(I) + T(J))/2],
geometric gap, time, and initial contact detection point location by using the tabular input
as described above.
111
Multiphysics Contact
uniform is allowed) or a function of temperature, time, or location as specified through tabular input.
For free surface convection (see Thermal Contact Behavior vs. Contact Status (p. 109) for a definition of
free-surface contact), you must also specify bulk temperature through the SFE command (with KVAL
= 2 and CONV as a table parameter). You can access this command through the following GUI paths:
Main Menu> Preprocessor> Loads> Define Loads> Apply> Thermal> Convection> On Elements>
Uniform
Main Menu> Solution> Define Loads> Apply> Thermal> Convection> On Elements> Uniform
The SFE surface load must be applied to the contact elements only. If either the convection coefficient
or bulk temperature is not specified, the convection loading will not be active.
Note
If CONV is not defined through the SFE command, real constant TCC will be used instead
only if it is defined by tabular input or a user subroutine. TCC can be made a function of
temperature [(T(I) + T(J))/2], geometric gap (positive GAP index values indicate penetration,
negative GAP index values indicate an open gap), time, and initial contact detection point
location by using tabular input (i.e., %tabname%).
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113
Multiphysics Contact
and
qT = (1 - FWGT) x FHTG x x V
Where qc is the contact side and qT is the target side, and FWGT is the weight factor for the distribution
of heat between the contact and target surfaces (input as a real constant). By default, FWGT = 0.5. For
an input of true 0, you must enter a very small value (for example, 1E-8). If you enter 0, the program
interprets this as an input of the default value.
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Note
For force-based node-to-surface contact, ECC has units of (electric conductivity)*(LENGTH)
or the capacitance.
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115
Multiphysics Contact
qT = (1 - FWGT) x q
Where qc is the contact side and qT is the target side, and FWGT is the weight factor for the contact
heat dissipation between the contact and target surfaces (input as a real constant). FWGT is the same
real constant used for frictional heat generation. By default, FWGT = 0.5. For an input of true 0, you
must enter a very small value (for example, 1E-8). If you enter 0, the program interprets this as an input
of the default value.
Note
3-D magnetic contact is not supported for the MVP formulation (AX, AY, AZ), and the edgebased formulation (AZ).
Note
Non-perfect magnetic contact is only available for the 3D contact elements, CONTA173 and
CONTA174.
For more information on which element types should be used for a particular analysis, see the element
discussions in the appropriate chapter of the Low-Frequency Electromagnetic Analysis Guide. For information on the use of the AZ degree of freedom, see Specifying Element Types and Options. For more
information on the use of the MAG DOF, see Build the Model.
For details on how to set up a contact analysis, see Steps in a Contact Analysis.
For an example input listing showing a 2-D static magnetic contact analysis, see Example: 2-D Static
Magnetic Contact Analysis.
116
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118
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In terms of solution CPU time, the CONTA178 element shown is the simplest and least expensive of all
contact element types. When modeling conditions warrant its use, it can be an effective tool for modeling a variety of contact situations. Following are some notable features offered with CONTA178:
Several contact algorithms, including the Lagrange method (KEYOPT(2))
Semiautomatic contact stiffness (real constants FKN-FKS)
Flexibility for defining contact normal
Many contact behaviors (KEYOPT(10))
Cylindrical and spherical gaps with friction (KEYOPT(1))
Damper (real constants CV1, CV2)
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119
Node-to-Node Contact
Multiphysics contact (KEYOPT(6),TCC, ECC)
Real constants in tabular format
User subroutines for user-defined friction, interface interactions, and real constants (USERFRIC,
USERINTER, and USERCNPROP)
120
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121
Node-to-Node Contact
122
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123
Node-to-Node Contact
Figure 8.4: Example of Overconstrained Contact Problem
Both nodes I and J are fixed in the X direction. The model is overconstrained only when the two bodies
are in contact and bonded contact or rough friction has been defined. It can also occur if the contact
status is sticking, In these cases, the constraint in the X-direction is duplicated which causes an overconstrained model.
Zero Pivot and Numerical Singularity warning messages indicate overcontraints in a model. Overconstraints can lead to convergence difficulties and/or inaccurate results. They can be easily avoided by
changing the contact definition or the boundary conditions.
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Note
Although you can change the contact stiffness value (real constant KN), you cannot change
any other real constants between load steps. Therefore, if you plan to change KN in a restart
(or from one load step to the next), you cannot allow the value of the tangent (or "sticking")
contact stiffness (real constant KT) to be defined by default, because the program would
then attempt to redefine the tangent stiffness as the contact stiffness changed. You must
explicitly define the tangent stiffness whenever you change the contact stiffness to maintain
a consistent value for the tangent stiffness throughout all load steps.
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125
126
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127
KEYOPT(12) = 4, 5,
or 6
KEYOPT(4) = 1, 2, or
3
KEYOPT(4) = 0 or 1
Note
When used with the MPC approach, the no separation option (KEYOPT(12) = 4) is only valid
for modeling solid-solid assemblies that represent a slider line or slider plane.
The following key options are ignored: KEYOPT(8) (it is always set to 2 internally), KEYOPT(10).
The following real constants are used: R1, R2, ICONT, PINB, CNOF, PMAX, PMIN, TOLS. All other real
constants are ignored.
This function works similarly to the CEINTF command for small deformation analysis (NLGEOM,OFF).
Comparing it to the CEINTF command, the contact surface acts as "region A nodes," and the target
surface acts as "region B elements."
The contact surface must be defined on the deformable bodies, and the target surface must be defined
on either deformable or rigid bodies in the contact pair. In order to prevent overconstraint, only asymmetric contact is supported. If symmetric pairs are defined, the program automatically selects one pair
and ignore the other pair (acting as KEYOPT(8) = 2). The self-contact pair definition is not supported.
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Constraint interface
Shell elements
Solid elements
To define a shell-solid assembly using the internal MPC approach, you must set the following key options
on the contact elements:
KEYOPT(2) = 2
MPC-based approach
KEYOPT(12) = 5 or 6
KEYOPT(4) = 1 or 2
KEYOPT(4) = 0 or 1
1. The surface projection based method for contact detection (KEYOPT(4) = 3) is usually not suitable for
modeling shell-solid assemblies.
The following real constants are also used: ICONT, FTOL, PINB, CNOF, PMAX, PMIN, TOLS.
The following key options are ignored: KEYOPT(8), KEYOPT(10), KEYOPT(1) > 0.
In most cases, the program automatically constrains both translational and rotational degrees of freedom
for a shell-solid assembly (see Figure 9.2: Shell-Solid Assembly (Original Mesh) (p. 132)). However, you
can use KEYOPT(5) of the target element (TARGE170) to explicitly define the type of constraint:
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131
Shell elements
(thickness t )
Contact elements
(pre-existing)
Solid elements
Target elements
TARGE170
(on top of solid)
132
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FTOLN
(influence distance)
For the shell-solid constraint option (KEYOPT(5) = 3 on TARGE170), the program automatically creates
an internal set of force-distributed constraints (similar to the RBE3 command) between nodes on the
shell edges and nodes on the solid surface. The program uses the pinball region (PINB), initial adjustment
zone (ICONT), and influence distance (FTOLN) to determine which nodes on the shell edge will be
constrained with which nodes on the solid surface. Each shell node acts as the master node, and associated solid nodes act as slave nodes.
For the bonded always option (KEYOPT(12) = 5), any shell node that lies inside the pinball region (PINB)
will be included in the constraint if an intersection with the target surface is detected in the contact
normal direction. This holds true at the beginning of deformation, as well as during the deformation
process. A relatively small PINB value may be used to prevent any false contact. The default for PINB is
0.25 (25% of the contact depth) for small deformation analysis (NLGEOM,OFF), and 0.5 (50% of the
contact depth) for large deformation analysis (NLGEOM,ON). (The default PINB value may differ from
what is described here if CNOF is input. See Using PINB (p. 61) for more information.)
For the bonded initial option (KEYOPT(12) = 6), only the shell nodes that initially lie inside the adjustment
zone (ICONT) are included in the constraint sets. Shell nodes that lie outside ICONT are not constrained
with the solid nodes. The default for ICONT is 0.05 (5% of the contact depth).
The influence distance (FTOLN) is used for the shell-solid constraint option (KEYOPT(5) =3 on TARGE170).
Each solid node is included in the constraint set if the perpendicular distance from the solid node to
any shell edge is smaller than the influence distance. FTOLN defaults to half the thickness of the shell.
A positive FTOLN value represents a scaling factor on the shell half-thickness, and a negative value
represents an absolute distance value.
A shell-solid assembly can be used in a substructure analysis. However, if a superelement is defined to
represent the shell elements, shell thickness is unknown in the use pass. In this case, you must overwrite
the default setting of FTOLN (originally a factor of the shell thickness) to account for the zero thickness
of the superelement. Input an absolute value for FTOLN (that is, input a negative value) to capture all
constrained nodes when the constraint equations are built.
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133
Pinball region
Target normal
Contact normal
Shell node
Solid elements
Keep the following points in mind when modeling shell-solid assemblies:
For the shell-solid constraint type (KEYOPT(5) = 3, 4, or 5), KEYOPT(9) is ignored, and initial penetration
or gap always remains constant. To close the initial penetration or gap, issue the command
CNCHECK,ADJUST in the beginning of the analysis.
The shell-solid constraint (KEYOPT(5) = 3, 4, or 5) is not always capable of transmitting all components
of the moment at the shell nodes due to transverse shear locking of shell elements; a typical example
is the moment component that is parallel to the normal of the solid surface.
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Surface-Based Constraints
Coupling constraint - In this type of constraint, the degrees of freedom of contact nodes are constrained
to have the same solution as the degrees of freedom of the pilot node (see Figure 9.7: Coupling Constraint (p. 136)), similar to a constraint defined by the CP command.
Figure 9.5: Rigid Surface Constraint
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135
In Figure 9.7: Coupling Constraint (p. 136), the pilot node's x-direction has been rotated by 45 degrees. Only
UX is included in the coupling constraint, so UY on the contact nodes are left free. The resulting deformation shows that UX (rotated 45 degrees from global x) is constant on the contact nodes, but UY is
nonuniform.
These surface-based constraints can be used in the following applications:
To apply loads and boundary conditions to the pilot node (such as torque load or drill rotation). Example:
a bolt head submitted to a torque force using a force-distributed constraint.
To model rigid bodies. Example: rigid body definition in multi-body dynamics.
To model rigid end conditions. Example: using a rigid surface constraint to model a rigid end plate or rigid
plane section of 3-D solid elements.
To model interactions with other joints. Example: two flexible parts linked by a hinge. This can be modeled
by two force-distributed constraint definitions whose pilot nodes are connected by a revolute joint element.
To define transitions between solid and structure elements. Example: a beam element connected to a
solid element face.
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Surface-Based Constraints
For a force-distributed constraint, use the following contact element key options:
Force-distributed Constraint KEYOPT Settings
KEYOPT(2) = 2
KEYOPT(12) = 5 or 6
KEYOPT(4) = 1
Indicates a force-distributed constraint for CONTA171, CONTA172, CONTA173, CONTA174, CONTA175, CONTA176, and CONTA177
For a rigid surface constraint, use the following contact element key options:
Rigid Surface Constraint KEYOPT Settings
KEYOPT(2) = 2
KEYOPT(12) = 5 or 6
KEYOPT(4) = 2
KEYOPT(4) = 0
For a coupling constraint, use the following contact element key options:
Coupling Constraint KEYOPT Settings
KEYOPT(2) = 2
KEYOPT(12) = 5 or 6
KEYOPT(4) = 3
The following key options are ignored for surface-based constraints: KEYOPT(8), KEYOPT(5), KEYOPT(7),
KEYOPT(10).
With the exception of PINB, none of the standard contact real constants are used for surface-based
constraints using internal MPC.
137
Note
If all degrees of freedom are included in the constraint equations, there will be no difference
between the KEYOPT(12) = 5 and KEYOPT(12) = 6 settings.
Figure 9.8: Slider Link (p. 139) shows an example of a slider link modeled with contact. A local cylindrical
coordinate system is defined at a contact node such that the x-direction is coincident with the line
connecting the contact node and pilot node. KEYOPT(4) = 10 is set for the target element type to specify
that only the y degree of freedom is constrained and other degrees of freedom are free. The coordinate
system at the contact node will be co-rotated according to the rotation of the pilot node.
138
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Surface-Based Constraints
Figure 9.8: Slider Link
Contact node
Rigid body
x
y
Pilot node
Apply rotation
In another example, a cylindrical ring is clamped at one end and loaded by a torque at the other end
(Figure 9.9: Free Radial Expansion Under Torque Load (p. 139)). A rigid surface constraint is used with all
the contact nodes rotated into a cylindrical coordinate system. If the x-direction constraint is free
(KEYOPT(4) = 110), the ring is allowed to expand in the radial direction.
Figure 9.9: Free Radial Expansion Under Torque Load
139
140
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Surface-Based Constraints
The number of internally-generated MPCs is equal to the number of contact nodes times the number of
DOF.
Beam elements
Contact elements
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141
Shell elements
Pilot node
Beam elements
Contact elements
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143
144
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145
146
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147
148
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Node 3
Surface 3
Node 2
Surface 2
Node 1
Surface 1
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149
Spot Welds
There are several advantages to using this mesh independent spot weld capability:
Parts can be meshed independently.
A basic spot weld set can be easily defined by specifying two surfaces to be connected and a single node
called the spot weld node near the surfaces. The spot weld node determines the location of the spot
weld.
This approach takes into account effects of the spot weld radius input by the user. The program creates
multipoint constraint equations (MPCs) internally through two contact pair definitions, one on each spot
weld surface. The internal constraint equations (force-distributed constraints) couple the motion of the
surface nodes to the motion of the spot weld node in an average sense.
The spot weld can be rigid (default) or deformable. To specify a deformable spot weld, you simply define
a deformable beam element type prior to creating the spot weld.
The following spot weld topics are available:
11.1. Defining a Spot Weld Set
11.2. Listing and Deleting Spot Welds
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Original position of
Node 1
Node 1
after projection
Surface 1
Once the actual location of node 1 has been determined, the program projects node 2 to surface
2 along the spot weld projection direction that was used for node 1. The figure below shows the
projection locations of nodes 1 and 2 given a default projection normal to surface 1.
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151
Spot Welds
Figure 11.3: Default Projection Direction for Nodes 1 and 2
Node 2
Surface 2
Node 1
Surface 1
Original position of
Node 1
The figure below shows spot weld node 1 projected as specified by the user (either through the
input of DIRX, DIRY, and DIRZ, or by the specification of a second spot weld node).
Figure 11.4: User-specified Projection Direction, Node 1
Original position of
Node 1
Node 1
after projection
Surface 1
The figure below is another example showing the projection location of spot weld nodes 1 and 2
given a user-specified projection direction.
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Node 2
Surface 2
User-defined
projection
direction
Node 1
Surface 1
Original position of
Node 1
Spot Weld Radius (SWRD):
Each spot weld is assumed to have a circular projection onto the spot weld surfaces. The projection is
defined by the required spot weld radius argument SWRD. For each spot weld surface, the program
builds six force-distributed constraint equations through a contact pair. The spot weld radius determines
the influence range of the constraint equations. Each spot weld node couples with a group of nodes on
the corresponding surface within the radius. (See Figure 11.7: Nodes Included in Constraint Equations (p. 155) later in this section.)
Search Radius (SHRD):
The program creates a contact pair for each spot weld surface. The contact pair contains one contact
element defined by the spot weld node, and target elements overlaid fully or partially on the corresponding spot weld surface. Only the surface nodes that fall within a sphere of radius, called the search radius,
with its center at the original position of the corresponding spot weld node are used to form target
elements (see figure below). The search radius must be larger than the spot weld radius. If the search
radius argument (SHRD) is not defined, the program uses a default search radius that is four times the
spot weld radius.
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Spot Welds
Figure 11.6: Search Radius for Spot Weld
Search radius
Spot weld radius
Original position of
node 1
TARGE170 elements
within search radius
Surface 1
CONTAC175
(spot weld node 1)
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TARGE170 elements
Surface 1
3. Beam element: A beam element is created to connect spot weld surface 1 and surface 2. The two beam
end-nodes are the spot weld nodes, node 1 and node 2 (see Figure below). The spot weld set can be
rigid or deformable. By default, the program creates a rigid beam element (MPC184 with KEYOPT(1)=1)
to represent a rigid spot weld. However, if the currently defined element type is BEAM188 with a solid
circular cross-section, the program assumes the spot weld set is deformable and a BEAM188 element is
created. In this case, you must input the material properties with the MP command and define the
geometry of the beam section using the SECTYPE and SECDATA commands (see the example listing
below). Generally, BEAM188 is capable of handling a short beam situation.
Figure 11.8: Beam Element Created for Spot Weld
Node 2
Surface 2
Beam element
(MPC184 or
BEAM188)
Node 1
Surface 1
The following example input shows typical commands used to define a spot weld with a deformable
BEAM188 element having a circular cross section.
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Spot Welds
MP,EX,3,200000000000. ! spot weld material properties
MP,NUXY,3,0.3
SECTYPE,3,beam,csolid ! define a circular solid beam section
SECDATA,2.75e-002
! beam circular radius
ET,3,188
! element type for a deformable spot weld
TYPE,3
MAT,3
SECNUM,3
*SET,NODE1,9000
! define parameter for node number
N,NODE1,0.1,0.5,10.2 ! define spot weld node
SWGEN,SWELD1,2.75e-2,2,3,NODE1 ! Spot weld name = SWELD1
! Radius = 2.75e-2
! Spot weld surfaces = areas 2 and 3
Note
All limitations that are documented for the MPC184 link/beam element in the Element Reference also apply when the element is used in a rigid spot weld definition. Please read the
MPC184-Link/Beam description carefully, especially the assumptions and restrictions.
For each new surface, the program creates a new spot weld node, a new contact pair, and a new beam
element (see figure below). The location of the new node is determined by projection of one of the
closest existing spot weld nodes onto the newly added surface along the spot weld projection direction.
The new node-to-surface contact pair contains the new spot weld node as a single contact node in the
pair, and surface nodes within the range of the search radius (SHRD) specified on the SWADD command.
The search radius defaults to 4 times the spot weld radius (SWRD) defined for the basic spot weld set.
Each new contact pair will create 6 force-distributed constraint equations internally. A new beam is
created to link the new surface to the closest existing surface through the spot weld nodes.
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Node 4
Surface 4
Beam 3
Node 3
Surface 3
Beam 2
Node 2
Surface 2
Node 1
Surface 1
Original position of
Node 1
After all spot weld nodes are created, the nodes of the beam elements may be reordered to link every
two adjacent spot weld nodes (see Figure below). The ordering is important for the output, which is
calculated for each beam in a spot weld set.
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157
Spot Welds
Figure 11.10: Node Reordering for Beam Elements
Reordered surfaces
Node 3
Surface 3
Beam 3
Node 4
Surface 4 (inserted
between 2 and 3)
Beam 2
Node 2
Surface 2
Node 1
Surface 1
Assuming the basic spot weld set is named SWELD, below is an example of commands that could have
produced the above figure.
SWADD,SWELD, ,3 ! Add Area 3 to spot weld set SWELD
SWADD,SWELD, ,4 ! Add Area 4 (between surfaces 2 and 3) to SWELD
158
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159
160
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161
Debonding
12.1.1.1. Bilinear Material Behavior with Tractions and Separation Distances (TBOPT
= CBDD)
This is a linear elastic material behavior with linear softening characterized by maximum traction and
maximum separation. To define this material, use the TB,CZM command with TBOPT = CBDD. Specify
the material constants as data items C1 through C6 on the TBDATA command:
Constant
Symbol
Meaning
C1
max
C2
nc
C3
max
C4
ct
C5
C6
1. For contact elements using the force-based model (see the description of KEYOPT(3) for CONTA175,
CONTA176, and CONTA177), input a contact force value for this quantity.
Sample command input for this material is shown below.
TB,CZM,1,2,,CBDD
TBDATA,1,max,
nc
,max,
ct
,,
12.1.1.2. Bilinear Material Behavior with Tractions and Critical Fracture Energies (TBOPT
= CBDE)
This is a linear elastic material behavior with linear softening characterized by maximum traction and
critical energy release rate. To define this material, use the TB,CZM command with TBOPT = CBDE.
Specify the material constants as data items C1, through C6 on the TBDATA command:
Constant
Symbol
C1
max
C2
Gcn
162
Meaning
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Symbol
Meaning
C3
max
C4
Gct
C5
C6
1. For contact elements using the force-based model (see the description of KEYOPT(3) for CONTA175,
CONTA176, and CONTA177), input a contact force value for this quantity.
2. For contact elements using the force-based model (see the description of KEYOPT(3) for CONTA175,
CONTA176, and CONTA177), this quantity is critical fracture energy.
Sample command input for this material is shown below.
TB,CZM,1,2,,CBDE
TBDATA,1,max,Gcn,max,Gct,,
163
Debonding
When using a fine mesh for underlying elements of bonded surfaces, you may need to increase pinball
radius (PINB) for contact elements so that it is greater than the maximum separation value in the normal
direction (contact gap when normal contact stress goes to zero). The default value for PINB is based
on the depth of the underlying element. If PINB is smaller than the maximum separation value, debonding
calculations will be bypassed when the contact gap exceeds PINB.
12.1.4. Postprocessing
All applicable output quantities for contact elements are also available for debonding: normal contact
stress (PRES), tangential contact stress (TAUR, TAUS, SFRIC), contact gap (GAP), tangential slip (TASR,
TASS, SLIDE), etc. In addition, the following debonding specific output quantities are available as NMISC
data: debonding time history (DTSTART), debonding parameter (DPARAM), and critical fracture energy
(DENERI, DENERII).
For more information on how to review results in a contact analysis, see Reviewing the Results (p. 92)
in Surface-to-Surface Contact (p. 11).
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165
Meaning
C1
Wear coefficient, K
C2
Material hardness,
H
C3
Pressure exponent,
m
C4
Velocity exponent,
n
A sample command input for the Archard wear model is shown below.
TB,WEAR,1,,,ARCD
TBDATA,1,K,H,m,n
Material hardness and yield stress of the material are often closely related. If the material model of the
underlying solid element is a plastic model defined using the TB command with Lab = BISO, MISO,
BKIN, MKIN, the element average value of the current yield stress can be used to estimate the hardness
as H = yield stress/3. To activate this option, the hardness value (C2) on TBDATA should be entered as
-99. This option is only available for the material models mentioned above. In addition, the underlying
solid element should be one of the following types: PLANE182, PLANE183, SOLID185, SOLID186, SOLID187,
or SOLID285.
At each substep of the solution, the yield stress at the previous substep is used for estimating the
hardness. Thus, there is a lag of one substep for updating the hardness from the yield stress, and the
yield stress data is not available at the first substep of the solution. For this reason, no wear can take
place at the first substep if this option is used.
There is also an option to use the Archard model as a postprocessor only. To activate this option, enter
an additional fifth constant (C5) with a value of -99 on the TBDATA command. In this case, the Archard
model is used to calculate the wear, but the contact nodes are not moved; thus wear is just a postprocessing variable and does not affect the solution. This option can be of help in deciding if the geometric
correction calculated by the wear law is of intended magnitude or not. This can potentially help if
solution convergence becomes a problem due to large wear. This option is not available for analyses
involving rezoning.
For more information on the Archard model, see the discussion of contact surface wear in the Mechanical APDL Theory Reference.
For this option, you must write a USERWEAR subroutine to define the wear model. USERWEAR is called
at contact detection points that are closed. For efficiency reasons, this subroutine is not called if the
contact detection point is open. Some of the input arguments are described below.
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Description
strain(1)
strain(2)
strain(3)
stress(1)
stress(2)
stress(3)
temperature
dtime
Time increment
ndim
YieldStress
nTbprop
Tbprop(nTbprop)
coor(6)
localr(3,3)
TotWearOld(ndim)
Description
WearInc
Increment of wear
WearDir (ndim)
(Optional)
Direction cosines in the global coordinate system in which the wear increment will be applied. If WearDir is not defined, ANSYS applies wear in the
direction opposite to the contact normal.
167
13.1.4. Postprocessing
The total wear vector components at a node of a contact element are available as NMISC data. To help
in the visualization of the surface that has undergone wear, the wear is also added to the nodal displacements in the Jobname.RST file.
The total volume lost due to wear for a contact pair can be tracked via the NLHIST command.
168
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169
170
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0.865 inches
applied
displacement
1/2 symmetry
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171
The seal is compressed by a displacement-controlled load in the first load step. Fluid pressure is applied
to all contact elements in the second load step (see Figure 3: Fluid Pressure Loading on Planar Seal (p. 172))
so that the fluid opens and penetrates into the contact interface that was previously closed by compression.
The fluid pressure is applied using the SFE command with the load key set to 1 (LKEY = 1 on SFE).
Using SFE with the load key set to 2 (LKEY = 2 on SFE), all default starting points are suppressed (STA1
= -1) and two elements are chosen as starting locations initially exposed to the fluid (STA1 = 1). (See
Specifying Fluid Penetration Starting Points (p. 86) for more information on the STA values.) From this
location the fluid penetrates gradually by opening the bottom part of the contact surface, while the
top part of the contact surface completely closes.
Figure 3: Fluid Pressure Loading on Planar Seal
At the end of the first load step (compression load step) most of the contact is closed as shown in the
above figure. Plots of contact fluid pressure at an intermediate substep of load step 2 and at the end
of load step 2 are shown in Figure 4: Intermediate Fluid Pressure Distribution (p. 173) and Figure 5: Final
Fluid Pressure Distribution (p. 173).
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Problem Description
Figure 4: Intermediate Fluid Pressure Distribution
Three contact elements at the bottom of the seal are used for time history postprocessing, representing
each region that undergoes fluid penetration. Time history results for fluid contact pressure and gap
are printed and plotted to show the path of fluid penetration along the bottom contact elements. The
fluid pressure history is shown in Figure 6: Time History of Fluid Pressure for Three Contact Elements (p. 174).
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173
174
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Input File
et,1,182
tb,HYPER,1,1,2,MOON
tbtemp,0
tbdata,,80,20,0,,,
/com
k,1
k,2,0.333,0
k,3,0.867,0.867
k,4,1.1,0.867
k,5,1.1,1
k,6,0.8,1
k,7,0.267,0.133
k,8,0,0.133
l,1,2
*repeat,7,1,1
l,8,1
lfillt,1,2,0.20
lfillt,2,3,0.15
lfillt,5,6,0.20
lfillt,6,7,0.15
lfillt,7,8,0.05
lfillt,8,1,0.05
al,all
k,98,-1.0,0
k,99,1.1,0
lstr,99,98
k,100,-1.0,1.0
k,101,1.1,1.0
lstr,100,101
lcomb,8,13
lcomb,8,14
esize,0.02
type,1
mat,1
smrtsize,5
amesh,all
allsel
lsel,s,,,4
nsll,s,1
d,all,ux,0
allsel
/com
et,2,169
et,3,171
keyopt,3,10,2
mp,mu,2,0.2 ! Friction
r,2
/com
type,2
real,2
mat,2
lesize,15,,,1
lesize,16,,,1
lmesh,15,16
/com
lsel,s,line,,1,12
lsel,u,line,,4
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175
/post1
/show
set,2,last
finish
/com
/post26
timerange,1,2
esol,2,523,138 ,cont,fprs,CONTFPRS1
esol,3,523,138 ,cont,gap,CONTGAP1
/com *****************************************************************************
/com History of contact gap and fluid pressure for an element in the
/com region that opens first
/com *****************************************************************************
prvar,2,3
esol,4,578,53 ,cont,fprs,CONTFPRS2
esol,5,578,53 ,cont,gap,CONTGAP2
/com ****************************************************************************
/com History of contact gap and fluid pressure for an element in the
/com region that opens later
/com *****************************************************************************
prvar,4,5
esol,6,517,6,cont,fprs,CONTFPRS3
esol,7,517,6,cont,gap,CONTGAP3
/com ****************************************************************************
/com History of contact gap and fluid pressure for contact element
/com that opens last
/com *****************************************************************************
prvar,6,7
176
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Input File
/title,Time history of fluid pressure for three contact elements
/axlab,y,Fluid pressure
plvar,2,4,6
finish
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177
178
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Index
B
beam-to-beam contact, 99
bolt thread modeling, 27
C
contact analysis, 1
asymmetric vs. symmetric contact, 14
beam-to-beam, 2, 99
birth and death option, 70
bolt thread modeling, 27
boundary conditions for node-to-node contact, 123
boundary conditions for surface-to-surface contact,
84
chattering controls, 38
choosing surfaces, 13
conduction, 110
contact algorithm, 38, 123
contact direction, 21
contact location detection, 49
Contact Manager, 7, 11
contact pairs, 9, 12
contact status, 60, 109
contact stiffness, 38-39
contact surface elements, 3
Contact Wizard, 8
convection, 111
debonding, 161
deformable contact surface, 22
direct generation to create rigid target elements, 16
electric contact, 114
electrostatic elements, 114
emissivity, 112
explicit dynamics, 1
flexible-to-flexible, 1, 11
fluid pressure-penetration loads for surface-to-surface contact, 84
free surface convection, 110
free surface radiation, 110
free thermal surface, 110
friction model, 44
gap, 123
Gauss integration points, 49
generating node-to-node contact elements, 120
generating surface-to-surface contact elements, 24
geometry correction, 25
heat flux, 110, 114
heat generation due to electric current, 115
heat generation due to friction, 113
initial contact conditions, 52
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179
Index
temperature required, 110
thermal contact, 109
thickness effect, 69
time step control, 70
using meshing tools to create rigid target elements,
18
wear, 165
contact stabilization, 66
contact surface wear, 165
D
debonding, 161
delamination
in a contact analysis, 161
F
fluid pressure-penetration loads, 84
I
internal MPC, 127
L
line-to-surface contact, 105
M
magnetic analysis
contact, 116
multipoint constraint, 127
P
penalty stiffness
in contact analysis, 24
pilot node
in contact analysis, 15, 82
S
spot welds, 149
W
wear, 165
180
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