A contact solid allows you to control the forces that are transferred between parallel surfaces, and the way in which that happens.
Contact Type
In this dialog section, you can define the forces transferred between the solids.
In the 'Contact perpendicular to surfaces' list, you can select the following options:
- Full force transmission
- Failure under tension
- Failure under compression
In this way you can control, for example, that an end plate only transfers compressive forces, and tensile forces are absorbed by the member elements.
The failure criteria for compression or tension are taken into account in the calculation via deformations of the solid FE mesh nodes.
The 'Contact Parallel to Surfaces' can be defined independently of the contact properties that act perpendicular to the two contact surfaces. The following options are available for selection in the list:
The contact criteria have the following meaning:
| Contact | Diagram | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Failure if contact perpendicular to surfaces failed | If the contact solid under tension or compressions fails, no shear forces are transmitted. | |
| Full force transmission | All shear forces are transmitted. | |
| Rigid friction | The rigid friction is immediately effective. Shear stress depends on normal stress. The 'Friction Coefficient' μ must be specified. | |
| Rigid friction with limit | As soon as the 'Limit Stress' τmax is reached, the stress is not increased any further by increasing the deformation, but remains constant. | |
| Elastic friction | The friction represents an elastic behavior where shear force increases proportionally to deformation. There is no limit for deformation. The 'Shear Stiffness' C (the force required to move 1 m2 surface by 1 m) and the 'Friction Coefficient' μ must be entered as parameters. | |
| Elastic friction with limit | The shear force increases proportionally to the deformation until the allowable shear stress is reached. Then it remains constant. The 'Shear Stiffness' C and the 'Limit Stress' τmax must be entered as parameters. | |
| Elastic solid behavior | The properties of the elastic shear transfer can be described by the parameter for 'Shear Stiffness' C. |
Contact Parameters
In this dialog section, enter the parameters that are required for the transfer of the contact forces parallel to the surfaces. The contact parameters are illustrated in the table above.