ANSYS Help Manual-2 - Contact Analysis

Scope Settings Page 1 of 7
Scope Settings
The properties for the Scope category are described in the following table.
Property Description/Selections
Scoping Method Specifies whether the Contact Region is applied to a

Geometry Selection (default), a Named Selection , or
to a Pre-Generated Interface for fracture mechanics
(Interface Delamination) when you are using the ANSYS
Composite PrepPost (ACP) application.
Interface This property displays when you select Pre-Generated

Interface as the Scoping Method. It provides a drop-
down list of the available interface layers that were
imported from ACP.
Contact Displays/selects which geometries (bodies, faces,

edges, or vertices) or mesh entities (element faces) are
considered as contact. The geometries can be manually
selected or automatically generated.
For Face/Edge or Body/Edge contact, the edge must be

designated as Contact. Body scoping always includes
all pertinent faces in the solution process.
A contact pair can have a flexible-rigid scoping, but the

flexible side of the pair must always be the Contact side.
If the Contact side of the contact pair is scoped to
multiple bodies, all of the bodies must have the same
Stiffness Behavior, either Rigid or Flexible.
Note that if you click this field, the bodies are highlighted.
https://ansyshelp.ansys.com/Views/Secured/corp/v195/wb_sim/ds_Contact_Scope.ht… 25-10-2020
Target Displays which body element (body, face, or edge) or

mesh entities (element faces) is considered Target
(versus Contact). This element can be manually set or
automatically generated.
For Face/Edge or Body/Edge contact, the face or body

must be designated as Target. Body scoping includes
all pertinent faces in the solution process.
If the Contact side of the contact pair has a flexible

Stiffness Behavior then the Target side can be rigid.
Multiple rigid bodies cannot be selected for the Target

side scoping of the contact pair. The selection of multiple
rigid bodies for the Target invalidates the Contact
Region object and an error message is generated
following the solution process.
Note that if you click this field, the bodies are highlighted.
This read only property displays which bodies have

Contact Bodies faces or edges in the Contact list.
This read only property displays which bodies have

Target Bodies faces or edges in the Target list.
Beam-Beam Detection The application displays this property when you specify
beam edges as the scoping for both the Contact and
Target properties. Options include:
• External - Only 1 Segment
• External - Up to 4 Segments (default)
• External - Up to 8 Segments
• Internal Pipe Contact
The external options enable you to specify the maximum

number of target segments interacting with each contact
detection point simultaneously.
The Internal Pipe Contact can be used to model a

beam (or pipe) sliding inside another hollow beam (or
pipe). However, if the inner beam is much stiffer than the
outer beam, the inner beam can be the target surface.
This setting specifies a maximum of four target
segments for the Contact edge (CONTA177).
See the CONTA177 and 3D Beam-To-Beam Contact

sections for additional technical details about this
property.
Specifies if the contact entities (faces, edges, and

Protected vertices) are protected topology. Set the property to Yes
to respect the geometry features the Contact is scoped
to and ensure proper association between the geometry
and mesh. Set the property to No to indicate that the
topology may not be protected.
Contact Shell Face Specifies whether the Contact should be applied on a

surface body’s top face or bottom face. When scoped to
an element face, a third option (By Scoping) is also
available which applies the contact to the scoped side
(top/bottom) of the shell face. If you set Contact Shell
Face to the default option, Program Controlled, then
the Target Shell Face option must also be set to
Program Controlled. The Program Controlled default
option is not valid for nonlinear contact types. This option
displays only when you scope a surface body to Contact
Bodies.
Target Shell Face Specifies whether the Target should be applied on a

surface body’s top face or bottom face. When scoped to
an element face, a third option (By Scoping) is also
available which applies the target to the scoped side
(top/bottom) of the shell face. If you set Target Shell
Face to the default option, Program Controlled, then
the Contact Shell Face option must also be set to
Program Controlled. The Program Controlled default
option is not valid for nonlinear contact types. This option
displays only when you scope a surface body to Target
Bodies.
Shell Thickness Effect This property appears when the scoping of the contact or
(See Using KEYOPT target includes a surface body. Options include:
(11))
• Yes - indicates to include the property.
• No (default) - indicates to exclude the property.
When set to Yes, the contact object becomes under-

defined if the Offset Type of any scoped surface body is
set to a value other than Middle. In this situation, the
following error message will be displayed: "The shell
thickness effect of a contact pair is turned on; however,
the offset type of a shell body in contact is set to other
than Middle. Set its offset type to Middle."
In the presence of a Thickness, Imported Thickness,

Layered Section, or an Imported Layered Section object,
the following warning message will be issued if a solve is
requested: "The shell thickness effect of a contact pair is
turned on. Make sure that the offset type of the
thickness, imported thickness, layered sections and
imported layered sections objects associated with the
shell bodies in contact are set to Middle."
Shell Thickness Effect
The Shell Thickness Effect allows users to automatically include the thickness of the
surface body during contact calculations. Instead of contact being detected on the face
of the surface body, contact will be detected a distance of half the thickness away from
the face.
If the surface body undergoes large strains and changes thickness, the updated
(current) thickness is also used in the contact calculations. However, to be able to take
advantage of this feature, the Offset Type must be set to Middle.
For cases where Offset Type is set to Top or Bottom, you can do the following:
• For a given contact region, if contact is occurring on the same face (Top or Bottom)
as the offset, no special settings are required. The location of the nodes and
elements of the surface body represent the actual position of that face.
• For Rough, Frictionless, or Frictional contact types, if contact is occurring on the

opposite face as the offset, specify a contact Offset equal to the shell thickness for
the Interface Treatment. Note that changes in shell thickness for large strain
analyses will not be considered.
Note: If the Shell Thickness Effect is activated, and you have specified a
contact Offset for the Interface Treatment, the total offset will be half the
thickness of the surface body plus the defined contact offset.
Postprocessing surface bodies with the shell thickness effect has the following special
considerations:
• Because contact is detected half of the thickness from the middle of the surface
body, viewing surface body results without Thick Shell and Beam (See the Style
group of the Display tab) effects turned on will show an apparent gap between
contact bodies. This is normal since contact is being detected away from the
location of the nodes and elements.
• When using the Contact Tool to postprocess penetration or gaps, these values are
measured from the middle of the surface bodies (location of the nodes and
elements), regardless of whether or not the shell thickness effect is active.
Support Specifications
Note:
• All bodies selected for the Target or Contact side of a contact pair must
have the same stiffness behavior.
• You cannot scope the target side in a contact pair to more than one rigid
body.
• If any of the bodies you scope have rigid stiffness behavior, you must
select Asymmetric behavior under Definition in the Details view.
• If you have both rigid and flexible bodies in your contact pair, you must
scope the rigid body as a Target.
• For the Mechanical APDL solver, you cannot scope the Target side in a
contact pair to the edge of a rigid body.
Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
Release 2019 R3 - © ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.
Definition Settings Page 1 of 8
Definition Settings
The differences in the contact settings determine how the contacting bodies can move
relative to one another. This category provides the following properties.
• Type
• Scope Mode
• Behavior
• Trim Contact
• Suppressed
Type
Choosing the appropriate contact type depends on the type of problem you are trying
to solve. If modeling the ability of bodies to separate or open slightly is important
and/or obtaining the stresses very near a contact interface is important, consider using
one of the nonlinear contact types (Frictionless, Rough, Frictional), which can model
gaps and more accurately model the true area of contact. However, using these
contact types usually results in longer solution times and can have possible
convergence problems due to the contact nonlinearity. If convergence problems arise
or if determining the exact area of contact is critical, consider using a finer mesh (using
the Sizing control) on the contact faces or edges.
The available contact types are listed below. Most of the types apply to Contact
Regions made up of faces only.
• Bonded: This is the default configuration and applies to all contact regions
(surfaces, solids, lines, faces, edges). If contact regions are bonded, then no sliding
or separation between faces or edges is allowed. Think of the region as glued. This
https://ansyshelp.ansys.com/Views/Secured/corp/v195/wb_sim/ds_Contact_Definitio… 25-10-2020
type of contact allows for a linear solution since the contact length/area will not
change during the application of the load. If contact is determined on the
mathematical model, any gaps will be closed and any initial penetration will be
ignored. [Not supported for Rigid Dynamics. Fixed joint can be used instead.]
• No Separation: This contact setting is similar to the Bonded case. It only applies to
regions of faces (for 3D solids) or edges (for 2D plates). Separation of the
geometries in contact is not allowed.
• Frictionless: This setting models standard unilateral contact; that is, normal
pressure equals zero if separation occurs. Thus gaps can form in the model
between bodies depending on the loading. This solution is nonlinear because the
area of contact may change as the load is applied. A zero coefficient of friction is
assumed, thus allowing free sliding. The model should be well constrained when
using this contact setting. Weak springs are added to the assembly to help stabilize
the model in order to achieve a reasonable solution.
• Rough: Similar to the frictionless setting, this setting models perfectly rough
frictional contact where there is no sliding. It only applies to regions of faces (for 3D
solids) or edges (for 2D plates). By default, no automatic closing of gaps is
performed. This case corresponds to an infinite friction coefficient between the
contacting bodies. [Not supported for Explicit Dynamics analyses.]
• Frictional: In this setting, the two contacting geometries can carry shear stresses
up to a certain magnitude across their interface before they start sliding relative to
each other. This state is known as "sticking." The model defines an equivalent shear
stress at which sliding on the geometry begins as a fraction of the contact pressure.
Once the shear stress is exceeded, the two geometries will slide relative to each
other. The coefficient of friction can be any nonnegative value. [Not supported for
Rigid Dynamics. Forced Frictional Sliding should be used instead.]
• Forced Frictional Sliding: In this setting, a tangent resisting force is applied at

each contact point. The tangent force is proportional to the normal contact force.
This setting is similar to Frictional except that there is no "sticking"
state. [Supported only for Rigid Dynamics]
By default the friction is not applied during collision. Collisions are treated as if the
contact is frictionless regardless the friction coefficient. The following commands
override this behavior and include friction in shock resolution (see Rigid Dynamics
Command Objects Library in the Mechanical User's Guide for more information).
options=CS_SolverOptions()
options.FrictionForShock=1
Note that shock resolution assumes permanent sliding during shock, which may
lead to unrealistic results when the friction coefficient is greater than 0.5.
• Friction Coefficient: Enables you to enter a friction coefficient. Displayed only for
frictional contact applications.
Note:
• For the Bonded and No Separation contact Type, you can simulate the
separation of a Contact Region as it reaches some predefined opening
criteria using the Contact Debonding feature.
• Refer to KEYOPT(12) in the Mechanical APDL Contact Technology Guide

for more information about modelling different contact surface behaviors.
Scope Mode
This is a read-only property that displays how the selected Contact Region was
generated. Either automatically generated by the application (Automatic) or
constructed or modified by the user ( Manual ). Note that this property is not supported
for Rigid Body Dynamics analyses.
Behavior
This property will appear only for 3D Face/Face or 2D Edge/Edge contacts. For 3D
Edge/Edge or Face/Edge contacts, internally the program will set the contact behavior
to Asymmetric (see below). Note that this property is not supported for Rigid Body
Dynamics analyses.
Sets contact pair to one of the following:
• Program Controlled (Default for the Mechanical APDL solver): internally the
contact behavior is set to the following options based on the stated condition:
• Auto Asymmetric (see below): for Flexible-Flexible bodies.
• Asymmetric (see below): for Flexible-Rigid bodies.
• Symmetric (see below): for Flexible-Flexible bodies that are scoped to a

Nonlinear Adaptive Region.
For Rigid-Rigid contacts, the Behavior property is under-defined for the Program
Controlled setting. The validation check is performed at the Contact object level
when all environment branches are using the Mechanical APDL solver. If the
solver target for one of the environments is other than Mechanical APDL, then
this validation check will be carried out at the environment level; the environment
branch will become under-defined.
• Asymmetric: Contact will be asymmetric for the solve. All face/edge and edge/edge
contacts will be asymmetric. [In Explicit Dynamics analyses this is supported for
Bonded connections.]
Asymmetric contact has one face as Contact and one face as Target (as defined
under Scope Settings), creating a single contact pair. This is sometimes called
"one-pass contact," and is usually the most efficient way to model face-to-face
contact for solid bodies.
The Behavior must be Asymmetric if the scoping includes a body specified with rigid
Stiffness Behavior.
• Symmetric: Contact will be symmetric for the solve.
• Auto Asymmetric: Automatically creates an asymmetric contact pair, if possible.

This can significantly improve performance in some instances. When you choose
this setting, during the solution phase the solver will automatically choose the more
appropriate contact face designation. You can also designate the roles of each face
in the contact pair manually. [In Explicit Dynamics analyses this option is available
for Bonded connections; see Bonded Type.]
Note: Refer to KEYOPT(8) in the Mechanical APDL Contact Technology
Guide for more information about asymmetric contact selection.
Trim Contact
The Trim Contact feature can speed up the solution time by reducing the number of
contact elements sent to the solver for consideration. Note that this feature is not
supported for Rigid Body Dynamics analyses.
Trim Contact options include:
• Program Controlled: This is the default setting. The application chooses the
appropriate setting. Typically, the application sets Trim Contact to On. However, if
there are manually created contact conditions, no trimming is performed.
• On: During the process of creating the solver input file, checking is performed to
determine the proximity between source and target elements. Elements from the
source and target sides which are not in close proximity (determined by a tolerance)
are not written to the file and therefore ignored in the analysis.
• Off: No contact trimming is performed.
The checking process is performed to identify if there is overlap between the bounding
boxes of the elements involved. If the bounding box of an element does not overlap the
bounding box of an opposing face or element set, that element is excluded from the
solution. Before the elements are checked, the bounding boxes are expanded using
the Trim Tolerance property (explained below) so that overlapping can be detected.
Trim Tolerance
This property provides the ability to define the tolerance value that is used to expand
the bounding boxes of the elements before the trimming process is performed.
This property is available for both automatic and manual contacts when the Trim
Contact is set to On. It is only available for automatic contacts when the Trim Contact
is set to Program Controlled since no trimming is performed for manual contacts. For
automatic contacts, this property displays the value that was used for contact detection
and it is a read-only field. For manual contacts, enter a value greater than zero.
Note that a doubling expansion effect can result from the bounding box expansion
since the bounding box of both the source and target elements are expanded. An
example of the double expansion effect is illustrated below where the Trim Tolerance is
defined as 10 mm. For simplicity sake, the size of the elements is specified as 5mm.
Therefore, the bounding boxes for the contact/target elements will extend 10mm (two
elements) in each direction as represented by the orange boxes, solid and dashed. For
each face, Contact and Target, the number of elements that will be used are illustrated.
The brown area illustrated below represents the elements from the contact face. On
the corresponding target side exist potential elements from the entire target face. The
elements of the target face that will be kept are drawn in black. On the target Face,
each element bounding box is expanded by 10mm and an overlap is sought against
each element from the contact side. Referring to the image below, the bounding boxes
between Contact Element 1 (CE1) and Target Element 2 (TE2) overlap thus TE2 is
included in the analysis. Meanwhile, CE3 and TE4 do not overlap and as a result, TE4
is not included in the analysis. This results in a reduced number of elements in the
analysis and, typically, a faster solution.
Suppressed
Specifies whether or not the Contact Region is included in the solution.
Advanced Settings Page 1 of 19
Advanced Settings
The Advanced category provides the following properties.
• Formulation
• Small Sliding
• Detection Method
• Penetration Tolerance
• Elastic Slip Tolerance
• Normal Stiffness
• Constraint Type
• Update Stiffness
• Stabilization Damping Factor
• Thermal Conductance
• Pinball Region
• Pinball Radius
• Time Step Controls
• Electric Conductance
• Restitution Factor - Rigid Body Dynamics Solver Only
Formulation
Formulation options allow you to specify which algorithm the software uses for a
particular Contact pair computation.
Property options include:
https://ansyshelp.ansys.com/Views/Secured/corp/v195/wb_sim/ds_Contact_Advance… 25-10-2020
Property Description MAPDL
Program This is the default setting. For this setting, the -

Controlled application selects the Pure Penalty property for
contact between two rigid bodies and the
Augmented Lagrange property for all other contact
situations.
Pure Basic contact formulation based on Penalty method.

Penalty KEYOPT
(2) = 1
Also a penalty-based method. Compared to the Pure

Augmented Penalty method, this method usually leads to better KEYOPT
Lagrange conditioning and is less sensitive to the magnitude of (2) = 0
the contact stiffness coefficient. However, in some
analyses, the Augmented Lagrange method may
require additional iterations, especially if the
deformed mesh becomes too distorted.
Available for Bonded and for No Separation contact

MPC Types. Multipoint Constraint equations are created KEYOPT
internally during the Mechanical APDL solution to tie (2) = 2
the bodies together. This can be helpful if truly linear
contact is desired or to handle the nonzero mode
issue for free vibration that can occur if a penalty
function is used. Note that contact based results
(such as pressure) will be zero.
Note: When modeling Shell-Solid

assemblies with the MPC contact
Formulation, the contact surface/edge must
be on the shell side and the target surface
must be on the solid side. However, you
can override this requirement to support
certain special cases, such as acoustics.
See the Modeling a Shell-Solid Assembly
section of the Mechanical APDL Contact
Technology Guide for additional
information.
Normal Enforces zero penetration when contact is closed

Lagrange making use of a Lagrange multiplier on the normal KEYOPT
direction and a penalty method in the tangential (2) = 3
direction. Normal Stiffness is not applicable for this
setting. Normal Lagrange adds contact traction to the
model as additional degrees of freedom and requires
additional iterations to stabilize contact conditions. It
often increases the computational cost compared to
the Augmented Lagrange setting. The Iterative
setting (under Solver Type) cannot be used with this
method.
Beam -
Available for Bonded Type only. This formulation
works by "stitching" the contact topologies together
using massless linear Beam Elements.
For additional Mechanical APDL specific information, see KEYOPT(2) in the

Mechanical APDL Contact Technology Guide.
Note: Cases involving large gaps and faces bonded together can result in
fictitious moments being transmitted across a boundary.
Small Sliding
The Small Sliding property displays and activates an assumption of relatively-small

sliding (less than 20% of the contact length during the analysis). If small sliding is
known to occur, this feature can make your solution more efficient and robust. The
Program Controlled setting for the Small Sliding property automatically sets the
property to On in most situations if the Large Deflection property is set to Off or the
Formulation property is set to Bonded contact. The default setting for this property
can be changed using the Small Sliding option in the Connections category of the
Options preference.
Property Description
Program This is the default setting. The application determines whether

Controlled small sliding logic is enabled.
Yes Enable small sliding.
No Disable small sliding
For additional information, see the Selecting a Sliding Behavior topic in the Mechanical
APDL Contact Technology Guide.
Detection Method
Detection Method enables you to choose the location of contact detection used in the
analysis in order to obtain a good convergence. It is applicable to 3D face-face
contacts and 2D edge-edge contacts.
Program This is the default setting. The application uses Gauss integration
Controlled points (On Gauss Point) when the formulation is set to Pure
Penalty and Augmented Lagrange. It uses nodal point (Nodal-
Normal to Target) for MPC and Normal Lagrange formulations.
On Gauss The contact detection location is at the Gauss integration points.

Point This option is not applicable to contacts with MPC or Normal
Lagrange formulation.
Nodal - The contact detection location is on a nodal point where the

Normal From contact normal is perpendicular to the contact surface.
Contact
Nodal - The contact detection location is on a nodal point where the

Normal To contact normal is perpendicular to the target surface.
Target
Nodal - The contact detection location is at contact nodal points in an

Projected overlapping region of the contact and target surfaces (projection-
Normal From based method).
Contact
Note: Additive Manufacturing Process simulations do

not support projection-based contact.
For additional Mechanical APDL specific information, see Selecting Location of

Contact Detection (specifically, KEYOPT(4) related information) in the Mechanical
APDL Contact Technology Guide.
Penetration Tolerance
The Penetration Tolerance property enables you to specify the Penetration

Tolerance Value or the Penetration Tolerance Factor for a contact when the
Formulation property is set to Program Controlled, Pure Penalty, or Augmented
Lagrange.
Note: The Update Stiffness property must be set to either Program

Controlled, Each Iteration, or Each Iteration, Aggressive for the
Penetration Tolerance property to be displayed when Formulation is set to
Pure Penalty.
Program This is the default setting. The Penetration Tolerance is

Controlled calculated by the program.
Value Enter the Penetration Tolerance Value directly. This entry is a

length measurement (foot, meter, etc.). Only non-zero positive
values are valid.
Factor Enter the Penetration Tolerance Factor directly. This entry must
be equal to or greater than zero but must also be less than 1.0.
This entry has no unit.
Penetration Tolerance Value
The Penetration Tolerance Value property displays when Penetration Tolerance is

set to Value. You enter a Value.
Penetration Tolerance Factor
The Penetration Tolerance Factor property displays when Penetration Tolerance is

set to Factor. You enter a Factor.
Note: When viewing the Connections Worksheet, a Value displays as a

negative number and a Factor displays as a positive number.
For additional information, see the Determining Contact Stiffness and Allowable
Penetration, specifically Using FKN and FTOLN, section of the Mechanical APDL
Contact Technology Guide (Surface-to-Surface Contact).
Elastic Slip Tolerance
The Elastic Slip Tolerance property enables you to set the allowable elastic slip value
for a contact when the Formulation is set to Normal Lagrange or when the contact
stiffness is set to update each iteration (Update Stiffness is set to Each Iteration or
Each Iteration, Aggressive).
Note: Elastic Slip Tolerance is not applicable when the contact Type is set
to Frictionless or No Separation.
Program This is the default setting. The Elastic Slip Tolerance Value is
Controlled calculated by the application.
Value Enter the Elastic Slip Tolerance Value directly. This entry is a
length measurement (foot, meter, etc.). Only non-zero positive
values are valid.
Factor Enter the Elastic Slip Tolerance Factor directly. This entry must
be equal to or greater than zero but must also be less than 1.0.
This entry has no unit.
Elastic Slip Tolerance Value
The Elastic Slip Tolerance Value property displays when Elastic Slip Tolerance is
set to Value. You enter a Value.
Elastic Slip Tolerance Factor
The Elastic Slip Tolerance Factor property displays when Elastic Slip Tolerance is
set to Factor. You enter a Factor.
Note: When viewing the Connections Worksheet, a Value displays as a

negative number and a Factor displays as a positive number.
For additional information, see the Determining Contact Stiffness and Allowable
Penetration, specifically Using FKT and SLTO, section of the Mechanical APDL
Contact Technology Guide (Surface-to-Surface Contact).
Constraint Type
The Constraint Type property controls the type of MPC constraint to be created for
bonded contact. This displays only if Formulation property is set to MPC and if either
Contact Bodies or Target Bodies are scoped to a surface body. The property
includes the following options:
Program
Controlled This is the default setting. Internally this corresponds to the
Projected, Displacement Only option for solid-solid contact and
Distributed, All Directions option for all other contact types.
Projected,
Displacement Constraints are constructed to couple the translational DOFs only.
Only Projected constraint if an intersection is found from the contact
normal to the target surface.
Projected,
Uncoupled U The rotational and displacement constraints will not be coupled
to ROT together. This option can model situations where the surface body
edges line up well and a moment is not created from the physical
surface body positions. Thus it is most accurate for the constraints
to leave the displacements/rotations uncoupled. This provides an
answer which is closer to a matching mesh solution. Using a
coupled constraint causes artificial constraints to be added
causing an inaccurate solution.
Distributed,
Normal Only Both translational DOFs and rotational DOFs of contact nodes
and translational DOFs of target nodes are included in the
constraint set in a coupled manner.
Distributed,
All Directions Represents the most common type of surface body contact.
Constraints are constructed to couple the translational and
rotational DOFs. In most types of surface body contact, an offset
will exist. Due to this offset there will be a moment created. To get
the correct moment, the rotation/displacement DOF's must be
coupled together. If the program cannot detect any contact in the
target normal direction, it will then search anywhere inside the
pinball for contact.
Distributed,
Anywhere Constraints are coupled and created anywhere to be found inside
Inside Pinball the pinball region. Thus the pinball size is important as a larger
pinball will result in a larger constraint set. This option is useful
when you wish to fully constrain one contact side completely to
another.
For additional information, see the Controlling Degrees of Freedom Used in the
MPC Constraint topic in the Modeling Solid-Solid and Shell-Shell Assemblies section
of the Mechanical APDL Contact Technology Guide. Also note that the Mechanical
APDL entry for the Constraint Type is KEYOPT(5) for element TARGE170.
Normal Stiffness
Defines a contact Normal Stiffness factor. Property options include:
Description
Option
Program This is the default setting. The Normal Stiffness Factor is calculated
Controlled by the program. If only Bonded or No Separation contact exists,
the value is set to 10. If any other type of contact exists, all of the
program controlled regions (including Bonded or No Separation)
will use the Mechanical APDL default (Real Constant FKN).
Factor You enter the Normal Stiffness Factor (see below). This is a unit-
less entry.
Absolute You enter the Normal Stiffness Value (see below).

Value
Normal Stiffness Factor
This property appears when the Normal Stiffness property is set to Factor. It enables
you to specify the Normal Stiffness Factor. Only non-zero positive values are
supported. The usual factor range is from 0.01 - 10The default value is selected by
the application. A smaller value provides for easier convergence but with more
penetration. The default value is appropriate for bulk deformation. If bending
deformation dominates, use a smaller value (0.01 - 0.1).
For additional information specific to Mechanical APDL, see the following sections:
• Determining Contact Stiffness and Allowable Penetration section of the Mechanical

APDL Contact Technology Guide (Surface-to-Surface Contact).
• Using FKN and FTOLN section of the Mechanical APDL Contact Technology Guide
(Surface-to-Surface Contact).
Normal Stiffness Value
This property appears when the Normal Stiffness property is set to Absolute Value.
It enables you to specify the Normal Stiffness Value. The application supports
positive values only. The Units for this value are based on the types of contact
involved. For a traction based model, the application uses Force/Volume (e.g., N/m3)
and for a force-based model, the application uses Force/Length (e.g., N/m). A force-
based model is used for face-to-edge contacts and edge-to-edge (not including line
bodies).
Update Stiffness
enables you to specify if the program should update (change) the contact stiffness
during the solution.
If you choose any of these stiffness update settings, the program will modify the
stiffness (raise/lower/leave unchanged) based on the physics of the model (that is, the
underlying element stress and penetration). This choice is displayed only if you set the
Formulation to Augmented Lagrange or Pure Penalty, the two formulations where
contact stiffness is applicable.
An advantage of choosing either of the program stiffness update settings is that

stiffness is automatically determined that allows both convergence and minimal
penetration. Also, if this setting is used, problems may converge in a Newton-Raphson
sense, that would not otherwise.
You can use a Result Tracker to monitor a changing contact stiffness throughout the
solution.
Program
Controlled (Default as set in the Options dialog). Internally set based on the
following criteria: set the Update Stiffness property to Never for
contacts between two rigid bodies and to Each Iteration for all
other cases.
Never This is the default setting. Turns off the program's automatic
Update Stiffness feature.
Each
Iteration Sets the program to update stiffness at the end of each equilibrium
iteration. This choice is recommended if you are unsure of a
Normal Stiffness Factor to use in order to obtain good results.
Each
Iteration, Sets the program to update stiffness at the end of each equilibrium
Aggressive iteration, but compared to the Each Iteration, this option allows for
a more aggressive changing of the value range.
Stabilization Damping Factor
A contact you define may initially have a near open status due to small gaps between
the element meshes or between the integration points of the contact and target
elements. The contact will not get detected during the analysis and can cause a rigid
body motion of the bodies defined in the contact. The stabilization damping factor
provides a certain resistance to damp the relative motion between the contacting
surfaces and prevents rigid body motion. This contact damping factor is applied in the
contact normal direction and it is valid only for frictionless, rough and frictional
contacts. The damping is applied to each load step where the contact status is open.
The value of the stabilization damping factor should be large enough to prevent rigid
body motion but small enough to ensure a solution. A value of 1 is usually appropriate.
Property Description Mechanical APDL
Stabilization If this factor is 0 (default), the damping is FDMN

Damping activated only in the first load step (KEYOPT
KEYOPT(15) = 2.
Factor (15) = 0, the default). If its value is greater
than 0, the damping is activated for all load Damping is
steps (KEYOPT(15) = 2). activated for all
load steps.
Thermal Conductance
Controls the thermal contact conductance value used in a thermal contact simulation.
Program
Controlled This is the default setting. The program will calculate the value for
the thermal contact conductance. The value will be set to a
sufficiently high enough value (based on the thermal conductivities
and the model size) to model perfect contact with minimal thermal
resistance. Note that the Program Controlled option is not valid
for composite materials. For orthotropic materials, the application
only considers Thermal Conductivity in the X direction.
Manual
The Thermal Conductance Value is input directly by the user.
Thermal Conductance Value
Allows input of the Thermal Conductance Value. Only positive values are allowed. This
choice is displayed only if Manual is specified for Thermal Conductance. The Units
for this value are based on the types of contact involved. For 3D faces and 2D edges,
the units are HEAT/(TIME * TEMPERATURE* AREA). For contact between 3D edges
and vertices, the units are HEAT/(TIME * TEMPERATURE) with the value applied to
every node in the contact side. For more information about the units used for thermal
contact conductance coefficient, see Table 78 and Table 79 in the Solving Units
section.
For additional Mechanical APDL specific information, see the Modeling Thermal
Contact, specifically Modeling Conduction>Using TCC, section of the Mechanical
APDL Contact Technology Guide (Multiphysics Contact).
Pinball Region
This option enables you to specify the contact search size, commonly referred to as
the Pinball Region. Setting a pinball region can be useful in cases where initially,
bodies are far enough away from one another that, by default, the program will not
detect that they are in contact. You could then increase the pinball region as needed.
Consider an example of a surface body that was generated by offsetting a face of a
solid body, possibly leaving a large gap, depending on the thickness. Another example
is a large deflection problem where a considerable pinball region is required due to
possible large amounts of over penetration. In general though, if you want two regions
to be bonded together that may be far apart, you should specify a pinball region that is
large enough to ensure that contact indeed occurs.
For bonded and no separation contact types, you must be careful in specifying a large
pinball region. For these types of contact, any regions found within the pinball region
will be considered to be in contact. For other types of contact, this is not as critical
because additional calculations are performed to determine if the two bodies are truly
in contact. The pinball region defines the searching range where these calculations will
occur. Further, a large gap can transmit fictitious moments across the boundary.
Program This is the default setting. The pinball region will be calculated by
Controlled the program.
Auto This option is only available for contacts generated automatically.

Detection The pinball region will be equal to the tolerance value used in
Value generating the contacts. The value is displayed as read-only in the
Auto Detection Value field. Auto Detection Value is the
recommended option for cases where the automatic contact
detection region is larger than a Program Controlled region. In
such cases, some contact pairs that were detected automatically
may not be considered in contact for a solution.
Radius
The radius value is input directly by the user.
For the Rigid Body Dynamics solver: — In the Rigid Body Dynamics solver, the
pinball region is used to control the touching tolerance. By default, the Rigid Body
Dynamics solver automatically computes the touching tolerance using the sizes of the
surfaces in the contact region. These default values are sufficient in most of cases, but
inadequate touching tolerance may arise in cases where contact surfaces are
especially large or small (small fillet for instance). In such cases, the value of the
touching tolerance can be directly specified using the following properties:
Program
Controlled The touching tolerance is automatically computed by the Rigid
(default) Body Dynamics solver from the sizes of the contact surfaces.
Radius
The value of the touching tolerance is directly given by user.
Pinball Radius
The numerical value for the Pinball Radius. This choice is displayed only if Pinball
Region is set to Radius.
Electric Conductance
Controls the electric contact conductance value used in an electric contact simulation.
Program
Controlled This is the default setting. The program will calculate the value for
the electric contact conductance. The value will be set to a
sufficiently high enough value (based on the electric conductivities
and the model size) to model perfect contact with minimal electric
resistance.
Manual
The Electric Conductance value is input directly by the user.
Note: The Electric Analysis result, Joule Heat, when generated by nonzero
contact resistance is not supported.
Electric Conductance Value
Allows input of the Electric Conductance value (in units of electric conductance per
area). Only positive values are allowed. This choice is displayed only if Manual is
specified for Electric Conductance.
Time Step Controls
Allows you to specify if changes in contact behavior should control automatic time
stepping. This choice is displayed only for nonlinear contact (Type is set to
Frictionless, Rough, or Frictional).
None This is the default setting. Contact behavior does not control
automatic time stepping. This option is appropriate for most
analyses when automatic time stepping is activated and a small
time step size is allowed.
Automatic Contact behavior is reviewed at the end of each substep to

Bisection determine whether excessive penetration or drastic changes in
contact status have occurred. If so, the substep is reevaluated
using a time increment that is bisected (reduced by half).
Predict for Performs same bisection on the basis of contact as the Automatic
Impact Bisection option and also predicts the minimal time increment
needed to detect changes in contact behavior. This option is
recommended if you anticipate impact in the analysis.
Use Impact Activates impact constraints with automatic adjustment of the time
Constraints increment. This option includes constraints on penetration and
relative velocity to more accurately predict the duration of impact
and the rebound velocities after separation.
Restitution Factor - Rigid Body Dynamics Solver Only
For the ANSYS Rigid Dynamics solver, the Advanced group has only one property,
Restitution Value. This value represents the energy lost during shock and is defined
as the ratio between relative velocity prior to the shock and the velocity following the
shock. This value can be between 0 and 1. A Restitution Factor equal to 1 indicates
that no energy is lost during the shock, that is, the rebounding velocity equals the
impact velocity (a perfectly elastic collision). The default value is 1.

ANSYS Help Manual-2 - Contact Analysis

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

ANSYS Help Manual-2 - Contact Analysis

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Scope Settings Page 1 of 7

Scoping Method Specifies whether the Contact Region is applied to a

Interface This property displays when you select Pre-Generated

Contact Displays/selects which geometries (bodies, faces,

For Face/Edge or Body/Edge contact, the edge must be

A contact pair can have a flexible-rigid scoping, but the

Target Displays which body element (body, face, or edge) or

For Face/Edge or Body/Edge contact, the face or body

If the Contact side of the contact pair has a flexible

Multiple rigid bodies cannot be selected for the Target

This read only property displays which bodies have

This read only property displays which bodies have

• External - Only 1 Segment

• External - Up to 4 Segments (default)

• Internal Pipe Contact

The external options enable you to specify the maximum

The Internal Pipe Contact can be used to model a

See the CONTA177 and 3D Beam-To-Beam Contact

Specifies if the contact entities (faces, edges, and

Contact Shell Face Specifies whether the Contact should be applied on a

Target Shell Face Specifies whether the Target should be applied on a

• No (default) - indicates to exclude the property.

When set to Yes, the contact object becomes under-

In the presence of a Thickness, Imported Thickness,

Shell Thickness Effect

• For Rough, Frictionless, or Frictional contact types, if contact is occurring on the

Release 2019 R3 - © ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

• Forced Frictional Sliding: In this setting, a tangent resisting force is applied at

• Refer to KEYOPT(12) in the Mechanical APDL Contact Technology Guide

Sets contact pair to one of the following:

• Auto Asymmetric (see below): for Flexible-Flexible bodies.

• Asymmetric (see below): for Flexible-Rigid bodies.

• Symmetric (see below): for Flexible-Flexible bodies that are scoped to a

• Symmetric: Contact will be symmetric for the solve.

• Auto Asymmetric: Automatically creates an asymmetric contact pair, if possible.

Note: Refer to KEYOPT(8) in the Mechanical APDL Contact Technology

Guide for more information about asymmetric contact selection.

Trim Contact options include:

• Off: No contact trimming is performed.

Specifies whether or not the Contact Region is included in the solution.

Release 2019 R3 - © ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Advanced category provides the following properties.

• Elastic Slip Tolerance

• Stabilization Damping Factor

• Time Step Controls

• Restitution Factor - Rigid Body Dynamics Solver Only

Property options include:

Property Description MAPDL

Program This is the default setting. For this setting, the -

Pure Basic contact formulation based on Penalty method.

Also a penalty-based method. Compared to the Pure

Available for Bonded and for No Separation contact

Note: When modeling Shell-Solid

Normal Enforces zero penetration when contact is closed

For additional Mechanical APDL specific information, see KEYOPT(2) in the

The Small Sliding property displays and activates an assumption of relatively-small

Property options include:

Program This is the default setting. The application determines whether

Yes Enable small sliding.

No Disable small sliding

Property options include:

On Gauss The contact detection location is at the Gauss integration points.

Nodal - The contact detection location is on a nodal point where the