Surface-to-Surface Contact dialog box (Nastran/Multiphysics/Abaqus/ANSYS)

Type
Type	Specifies the face pair creation method.Select Automatic Pairing to create face pairs automatically using the Create Automatic Face Pairs dialog box. See Automatic face pairing and Create Automatic Face Pairs dialog box for more information.Select Manual to create face pairs manually by selecting regions that define the contacting and contacted surfaces.
Destination Folder
Simulation Object Container	Specifies the folder in the Simulation Navigator in which the boundary condition will be stored. The list includes the root container and existing folders that you created using the New Folder command. Examples of a root container include Load Container, Constraint Container, and Simulation Object Container.
Folder Manager	Displays a hierarchical list of existing folders. To create a new folder, right-click any level of the hierarchy and choose New Folder.
Automatic Face Pair Creation
Create Face Pairs	Appears when the face pair creation method is set to Automatic Pairing.Opens the Create Automatic Face Pairs dialog box, which enables you to specify face pair generation properties, preview face pairs, and generate face pairs automatically.
Source Region/Master Surface (Abaqus)
Source Region/Master Surface	Appears when the face pair creation method is set to Manual.Lets you select the Region that defines the contacting surface in the contact pair. This source face defines the direction for the contacts that get created. Select an existing region or click New Region to create a new region. See Working with reusable regions.Note: The source and the target regions must contain the same type of entity (that is, faces, element faces, etc.).
Target Region/Slave Surface (Abaqus)
Target Region/Master Surface	Appears when the face pair creation method is set to Manual.Lets you select the Region that defines the contacted surface in the contact pair. Select an existing region or click New Region to create a new region. See Working with reusable regions.
Swap Regions
Swap Regions	Appears when Type is set to Manual.Reverses the source and target regions or the master and slave surfaces.
Boundary Condition Generation
Associate to Automatic Pair Recipe	Appears when Type is set to Automatic Pairing.Associates generated contact pairs with the automatic pair recipe. The automatic pair recipe is the set of parameters on the Create Automatic Face Pairs dialog box that determine how to compute and group face pairs.When this option is selected, the generated contact pairs appear in the Simulation Navigator with the prefix Auto. If the master part is updated, the software recalculates the face pairs and updates the boundary condition.When this option is cleared, the generated contact pairs are not associated with the face pair recipe. If the master model changes, the contact pairs are not updated. These contact pairs behave the same as manually created contact pairs.

Nastran options

Contact Region Parameters (BCRPARA)
Source OffsetTarget OffsetSource Contact SideTarget Contact SideTarget Region Type	Defines parameters for the surface-to-surface contact region. For more information, see the BCRPARA bulk entry.For more information about defining these parameters, see Additional magnitude options.
Contact Set Properties (BCTSET)
Coefficient of Static Friction	Defines the static coefficient of friction for the contact pair. This option corresponds to the FRICi field on the BCTSET bulk entry. When contact is detected, Nastran uses this value to calculate any tangential contact forces by multiplying the normal contact force by the specified Coefficient of Static Friction.For more information, see Additional magnitude options.
Min Search Distance	Defines the minimum search distance for contact. This option corresponds to the MINDi field on the BCTSET bulk entry.For more information, see Additional magnitude options.
Max Search Distance	Defines the maximum search distance for contact. This option corresponds to the MAXDi field on the BCTSET bulk entry.For more information, see Additional magnitude options.
Local Contact Pair Parameters
Linear and Multi-Step Nonlinear (BCTPARM)	In a Simcenter Nastran linear or nonlinear analysis (SOL 101, SOL 103, SOL 111, SOL 112, and SOL 401), lets you assign a Contact Parameters–Local Pair Override object to the contact definition. This allows you to selectively change the values of certain parameters on a contact pair-by-contact pair basis.If you select None from the list, the software uses the Contact Parameters–Linear Global you assigned in the Solution dialog box to set the contact parameters (BCTPARM) values for the solution.
Advanced Nonlinear (BCTPARA)	In a Simcenter Nastran advanced nonlinear analysis (SOL 601,106, SOL 601, 29, or SOL 701), lets you assign a Contact Parameters – Advanced Nonlinear Pair modeling object to the contact definition. The Contact Parameters – Advanced Nonlinear Pair modeling object lets you control contact parameters such as the contact algorithm used by Simcenter Nastran. The parameters correspond to the options in the BCTPARA bulk entry.
Multi-Step Nonlinear Kinematics (BCTPAR2)	In a Simcenter Nastran multi-step nonlinear analysis (SOL 402), lets you assign a Contact Parameters – Multi-Step Nonlinear Kinematics Pair modeling object to the contact definition. The Contact Parameters – Multi-Step Nonlinear Kinematics Pair modeling object lets you control contact parameters such as penetration, gap, distance, offset, and so on. The parameters correspond to the options in the BCTPAR2 bulk entry.

Simcenter 3D Multiphysics options

Contact Region Parameters (BCRPARA)
Source Offset****Target Offset	Defines parameters for the surface-to-surface contact region. For more information, see the BCRPARA bulk entry.For more information about defining these parameters, see Additional magnitude options.
Contact Set Properties (BCTSET)
Coefficient of Static Friction	Defines the static coefficient of friction for the contact pair. When contact is detected, Nastran uses this value to calculate any tangential contact forces by multiplying the normal contact force by the specified Coefficient of Static Friction.This option corresponds to the FRICi field on the BCTSET bulk entry.For more information, see Additional magnitude options.
Min Search Distance	Defines the minimum search distance for contact. This option corresponds to the MINDi field on the BCTSET bulk entry.For more information, see Additional magnitude options.
Max Search Distance	Defines the maximum search distance for contact. This option corresponds to the MAXDi field on the BCTSET bulk entry.For more information, see Additional magnitude options.
Local Contact Pair Parameters
Local Overrides (BCTPARM)	Lets you assign a Contact Parameters–Local Pair Override object to the contact definition. This allows you to selectively change the values of certain parameters for each contact pair.If you select None from the list, the software uses the Global Contact Parameters you assigned in the Create Solution dialog box to set the contact parameters (BCTPARM) values for the solution.
Thermal Properties
Activate Thermal Coupling	Available for Coupled and Thermal analysis types only.Transfers heat through the contact pairs.
Type	Specifies the type of thermal coupling.Perfect ContactTransfers heat with no thermal resistance.Heat Transfer CoefficientLets you define the heat transfer coefficient for the contact pair.Thermo-Mechanical ContactUses one heat transfer coefficient when there is a gap between the contact pair, and a separate heat transfer coefficient when the contact pair has no gap.
Coefficient	Appears when Type is set to Heat Transfer Coefficient.Sets the heat transfer coefficient value as a constant value or a value dependent on time, temperature, heat flow rate, temperature difference, or thermal capacitance. Specify power/(length2 x temperature) units.ExpressionSets a constant value for the coefficient.FieldLets you specify a coefficient field or scale factor.Specify FieldLets you select or create a coefficient field that varies with time, temperature, heat flow rate, temperature difference, or thermal capacitance.Scale FactorSets a multiplying factor to uniformly increase or decrease the coefficient.For more information, see Additional magnitude options.
Coefficient with Gap	Appears when Type is set to Thermo-Mechanical Contact.Defines the heat transfer coefficient when there is a gap between the source and target regions.For more information, see Additional magnitude options.
Coefficient with Contact	Appears when Type is set to Thermo-Mechanical Contact.Defines the heat transfer coefficient when there is no gap between the source and target regions.For more information, see Additional magnitude options.
Additional Thermal Parameters
Coupling Resolution	Controls the accuracy of the coupling. The software subdivides primary elements according to the Coupling Resolution setting before it determines conductances. With the One to One resolution, the solver calculates a single conductance from each primary element to the nearest secondary element.With the Coarse through Finest resolutions, the software subdivides each primary element into a progressively larger number of sub-elements.Note: The finer subdivision level may not always produce more accurate results.
Only Connect Overlapping Elements	Controls how the software establishes the conductances between the selected elements.
Overlap Projection Direction	Available when the Only Connect Overlapping Elements check box is selected.Controls whether the normal of the primary or secondary elements is used to calculate the area of overlap.
Temperature Dependence Uses	Appears when Type is set to Heat Transfer Coefficient.Specifies which temperature is used to evaluate the magnitude when temperature-varying function is used. You can define a temperature dependency in table fields, formula fields, 4D fields, and table of fields.Average TemperatureUses the average temperature of primary and secondary regions to evaluate the magnitude.Primary TemperatureUses the temperature of the primary region to evaluate the magnitude.For more information, see Temperature dependency for thermal and electrical couplings.

Abaqus options

Contact Pair (Abaqus only)
Contact Pair	Lets you select or create a Contact Pair modeling object to define properties for the pairs of surfaces that may contact or interact during the analysis. For more information, see:Defining contact pairs (Abaqus Structural and Thermal analyses)Abaqus Analysis User's Guide: Defining Contact Interactions chapter, Defining contact in Abaqus/Standard topic.Abaqus Keywords Reference Guide: *SURFACE, *CONTACT PAIR, *SURFACE INTERACTION, *SURFACE BEHAVIOR, *FRICTION
Contact Smoothing
Surface Smoothing	Lets you select or create a Surface Smoothing modeling object to specify the technique to use to improve the contact stress and pressure accuracy for axisymmetric (or nearly axisymmetric) surfaces. For more information, see Surface Smoothing dialog box (Abaqus).Select a modeling object from the list or click Create Modeling Object to create one.

ANSYS options

Material (MP, MU)
Static Friction Coefficient	Defines the static coefficient of friction for the contact pair at the interface.For more information, see:ANSYS Contact Technology Guide: Surface-to-Surface ContactANSYS Commands Reference: MP, MUANSYS Element Reference: CONTA174, TARGE170
KEYOPTS and Real Constants
CONTA174 KEYOPTS	Lets you select or create a CONTA174 ET modeling object where you can define the KEYOPTS for ANSYS CONTA174 elements. For example, you can use these options to control the contact algorithm used and specify the effect of any initial penetration or gap at the interface.See CONTA174 in the ANSYS Elements Reference and the ANSYS Contact Technology Guide for more information.
REAL CONSTANTS	Lets you select or create a CONTA174 Real Constants modeling object where you can define the real constants for ANSYS CONTA174 elements. For example, you can specify options such as the normal contact penalty stiffness factor.See CONTA174 in the ANSYS Elements Reference and the ANSYS Contact Technology Guide for more information.

Additional options

These options are available when you click More Options .
Find	Lets you search for an object by entering the full name of the object. For example, to find a group named ABC_group, you must type ABC_group into the search box.After typing the name, press Enter or click Find . If the object is found, it will be selected automatically.
Filter by Name	Lets you filter the list by the names of the objects. This filter supports wildcards. The default wildcard of * displays all entries in the list. For example, to filter the list to display every object with a name starting with the letter "a," enter a* as the filter string.
Find	Starts the find or filter operation.

How do I

Define surface-to-surface contact

Learn more

Surface-to-Surface Contact (Simcenter Nastran, Simcenter 3D Multiphysics, Abaqus, ANSYS)

Automatic face pairing

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Surface-to-Surface Contact dialog box (Nastran/Multiphysics/Abaqus/ANSYS), Simcenter 3D 2021.1 Series

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