Chapter 3: Surface-to-Surface Contact (Pair-Based)

You can use the surface-to-surface contact elements to model either rigid-flexible or flexible-flexible contact between surfaces. The Contact Manager provides an easy-to-use interface to help you construct and manage contact definitions. You can access the manager via the Contact Manager icon in the Standard Toolbar, or via the menu path Main Menu> Preprocessor> Modeling> Create> Contact Pair. See GUI Aids for Contact Analyses for more information on using the Contact Manager.

This chapter explains how to set up a pair-based surface-to-surface contact analysis using both the command and GUI approaches. The following topics are available:

3.1. Using Surface-to-Surface Contact Elements
3.2. Steps in a Contact Analysis
3.3. Creating the Model Geometry and Mesh
3.4. Identifying Contact Pairs
3.5. Designating Contact and Target Surfaces
3.6. Defining the Target Surface
3.7. Defining the Deformable Contact Surface
3.8. Geometry Correction for Contact and Target Surfaces
3.9. Set the Real Constants and Element KEYOPTS
3.10. User-Defined Subroutines for Contact Interfacial Behaviors
3.11. Controlling the Motion of the Rigid Target Surface
3.12. Applying Necessary Boundary Conditions to the Deformable Elements
3.13. Checking Contact Pair-Based Force Convergence
3.14. Applying Fluid-Pressure-Penetration Loads
3.15. Defining Solution and Load Step Options
3.16. Solving Large Contact Models in a Distributed-Memory Parallel Environment
3.17. Solving the Problem
3.18. Contact Behavior in Linear Analyses
3.19. Reviewing the Results
3.20. Example Problems

The procedures described in this chapter also apply to node-to-surface contact analyses using CONTA175, 3D beam-to-beam contact analyses using CONTA177, and 3D line-to-surface contact using CONTA177 unless otherwise noted.