Have at least eight elements in the hoop direction per 90-degree quadrant (that is, at least 32 elements in an unbiased mesh for the 360-degree model) to reproduce the contact results correctly during 2-D to 3-D mapping (MAP2DTO3D).

If contact-related convergence issues occur during 2-D to 3-D mapping, try modifying a few contact parameters (such as penetration tolerance, pinball radius, FKN, FKT, and so on). Any such contact parameter changes must occur before mapping nodal and element solutions from the 2-D model to the 3-D model and rebalancing the results (MAP2DTO3D,SOLVE).

To apply the bending load on the 3-D model, create a rigid-to-flexible redundant contact pair with an assigned pilot node in the 2-D model. The program uses the pilot node to apply the bending load.

Verify that the 3-D model results closely resemble those of the 2-D model. (Small differences are expected, especially for contact results.)