Surface Contact Mesh

If you are working with Nastran as your solver, Surface Contact Mesh lets you create and define contact elements between two selected faces of a solid or between different components.

Note:

You can only use Surface Contact Mesh to create contact elements between geometric faces. You cannot use Surface Contact Mesh to create contact elements between elements that are not associated with geometry. For example, you cannot use Surface Contact Mesh to create contact elements between elements that you created manually with commands on the Nodes and Elements tab.

Using surface contact, you can choose between four contact conditions: standard, rough, no separation, or bonded. Depending on the solver you plan to use, you define the contact elements as surface contacts or node-to-node gap elements.

Surface Contact Example

The following figure shows a cubic solid with a cylindrical shaft on top. There is a small gap of 0.01 inches between the two solids. Each solid has been meshed with hexahedral elements (not shown), and surface contact elements are created between the shaft and the cube. The analysis focuses on the stress distribution effect of the assembly contact when a normal pressure is applied on the top of the shaft, and the base of the cube is fixed. To prevent rigid body motion, the shaft's cylindrical face is constrained from displacing in the X or Y direction.

This figure shows stress distribution after the solve. A clipping plane was applied (X-Z plane) to illustrate the effect of contact on the stress distribution.

Where do I find it?

In a FEM file with Nastran as the specified solver:

• Choose Home tab→Connections group→Surface Contact Mesh .

• Insert menu → Mesh → (Surface Contact Mesh)

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Surface Contact Mesh, Simcenter 3D 2021.1 Series

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