You can access the Contact Manager via the Contact Manager icon 
in the Standard Toolbar, or via the menu path
. The
Contact Manager is available at the Begin level and in the following processors:
preprocessor (PREP7), solution (SOLU), and general postprocessor (POST1).
The Contact Manager Toolbar provides an intuitive interface for the creation and management of contact pairs. The manager supports surface-to-surface contact analysis, node-to-surface contact analysis (using CONTA175), and the internal multipoint constraint (MPC) method of contact.
Contact Wizard - Accesses the Contact Wizard GUI described in The Contact Wizard. Allows you to manually define target and contact surfaces. Supports both 2D and 3D 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.)
Show Normals - Specifies whether or not to display the normals on the elements when plotting contact pairs
Flip Normals - Flips the element normals of the selected contact pair. This action is limited to the elements specified in the Contact Selection Options field.
Switch Contact and Target - Inverts the target surface and the contact surface with each other. This is applicable only to flexible-to-flexible surface-to-surface contact pairs.
List Elements/Results - Lists the elements of the selected contact pairs or lists the contact results, if available (POST1 only), specified in the Contact Results field for selected contact pairs. Results are listed if Model Context is specified as "Result-". Otherwise, elements are listed. The listing is restricted to the elements specified in the Contact Selection Options field.
Model Context - Displays the contact pairs in the context of the entire model using a translucent plot, or shows only the contact pairs. If set to "Result-" (POST1 only), controls display/listing of contact pair results.
Check Contact Status - Provides contact status information for selected contact pairs. Several options are available (click and hold down the Check Contact Status button to access these options):
Display a detailed listing of status information for each contact pair.
Run a partial solution of the initial contact state (CNCHECK,POST command) that can be subsequently postprocessed from the contact manager. (See CNCHECK for more information.)
Physically move contact nodes to the target surface (CNCHECK,ADJUST command) in order to close a gap or reduce a penetration (see Physically Moving Contact Nodes Toward the Target Surface.)
Reset target element and contact element key options and real constants to their default values (CNCHECK,RESET command).
Contact Results - Shows the contact result items for subsequent viewing using the Plot Elements/Results and List Elements/Results icons.
The bar below the toolbar icons minimizes or maximizes the Contact Pair list box below it. The Contact Pair list box displays the defined contact pairs. You can select contact pairs from this list for displaying or editing purposes.