Available Contact Algorithms in Abaqus
Abaqus
provides more than one approach for defining contact.
Abaqus/Standard
includes the following approaches for defining contact:
Abaqus/Explicit
includes the following approaches for defining contact:
Each approach has somewhat unique advantages and limitations.
The remainder of this section is organized as follows:
Defining a Surface-Based Contact Simulation
A contact simulation using contact pairs or general contact is defined by
specifying:
In many cases you do not need to explicitly specify many of the aspects
listed above because the default settings are usually appropriate.
Surfaces
Surfaces can be defined at the beginning of a simulation or upon restart as
part of the model definition (see
About Surfaces).
Abaqus
has five classifications of contact surfaces:
Surfaces of the same type can be combined to create new surfaces (see
Operating on Surfaces).
However, with regard to contact a combined surface can be used only with
general contact in
Abaqus/Explicit.
When the general contact algorithm is used,
Abaqus
also provides a default all-inclusive, automatically defined surface that
includes all element-based surface facets (in
Abaqus/Standard
and in
Abaqus/Explicit),
all crack surfaces for enriched elements (in
Abaqus/Standard
only), all analytical rigid surfaces (in
Abaqus/Explicit
only), and all Eulerian materials (in
Abaqus/Explicit
only) in the model.
Contact Interactions
Contact interactions for contact pairs and general contact are defined by
specifying surface pairings and self-contact surfaces. General contact
interactions typically are defined by specifying self-contact for the default
surface, which allows an easy, yet powerful, definition of contact.
(Self-contact for a surface that spans multiple bodies implies self-contact for
each body as well as contact between the bodies.)
At least one surface in an interaction must be a non-node-based surface, and
at least one surface in an interaction must be a non-analytical rigid surface.
Additional restrictions and guidelines for contact surfaces are discussed for
each contact definition approach. The definition of contact pairs is discussed
in detail in
About Contact Pairs in Abaqus/Standard
and
About Contact Pairs in Abaqus/Explicit.
The definition of general contact interactions is discussed in detail in
About General Contact in Abaqus/Standard
and
About General Contact in Abaqus/Explicit.
Surface Properties
Nondefault surface properties (such as thickness and, in some cases, offset) can be defined for
particular surfaces in a contact model. In addition, you can control which edges of a
surface will be included in the general contact domain in Abaqus/Explicit. Surface properties for contact pairs are discussed in Assigning Surface Properties for Contact Pairs in Abaqus/Standard and Assigning Surface Properties for Contact Pairs in Abaqus/Explicit. Surface properties for general contact are
discussed in Surface Properties for General Contact in Abaqus/Standard and Assigning Surface Properties for General Contact in Abaqus/Explicit.
Contact Properties
Contact interactions in a model can refer to a contact property definition,
in much the same way that elements refer to an element property definition. By
default, the surfaces interact (have constraints) only in the normal direction
to resist penetration. The other mechanical contact interaction models
available depend on the contact algorithm and whether
Abaqus/Standard
or
Abaqus/Explicit
is used (see
About Mechanical Contact Properties).
Some of the available models are:
The thermal, thermal-electrical, and pore-fluid surface interaction models
available in
Abaqus
are discussed in
Thermal Contact Properties,
Electrical Contact Properties,
and
Pore Fluid Contact Properties,
respectively.
Contact interaction models are defined as model data except for contact
pairs in
Abaqus/Explicit,
in which case they are defined as history data. Information on assigning
contact properties to contact pairs can be found in
Assigning Contact Properties for Contact Pairs in Abaqus/Standard
and
Assigning Contact Properties for Contact Pairs in Abaqus/Explicit.
Information on assigning contact properties to general contact interactions can
be found in
Contact Properties for General Contact in Abaqus/Standard
and
Assigning Contact Properties for General Contact in Abaqus/Explicit.
The crush stress associated with the CZone analysis capability is specified
as a material property and has the effect of limiting the contact stress under
specific circumstances discussed in
CZone Analysis.
Numerical Controls
The default algorithmic controls for contact analyses are usually sufficient, but you can adjust
numerical controls for some special cases. For example, depending on the contact algorithm
used, the numerical controls for the contact formulation, the main and secondary roles for
the contact surfaces, and the sliding formulation are provided. Information on contact
formulations and numerical methods used by the contact algorithms is provided in Contact Formulations in Abaqus/Standard and Contact Formulations for Contact Pairs in Abaqus/Explicit. The available numerical controls for the various contact algorithms are discussed in
Numerical Controls for General Contact in Abaqus/Standard, Adjusting Contact Controls in Abaqus/Standard, Contact Controls for General Contact in Abaqus/Explicit, and Contact Controls for Contact Pairs in Abaqus/Explicit.
Contact Simulation Capabilities in Abaqus/Standard
Abaqus/Standard
provides the following approaches for defining contact interactions: general
contact, contact pairs, and contact elements. Contact pairs and general contact
both use surfaces to define contact; comparisons of these approaches are
provided later in this section. Contact elements are provided for certain
interactions that cannot be modeled with either general contact or contact
pairs; however, it is generally recommended to use general contact or contact
pairs if possible.
Capabilities of Contact Pairs and General Contact in Abaqus/Standard
Contact pairs and general contact combine to provide the following
capabilities in
Abaqus/Standard:
Coupled thermomechanical and coupled thermal-electrical-structural
interactions can be included in any of the above examples as long as both of
the surfaces are deformable.
Choosing between General Contact or Contact Pairs in Abaqus/Standard
For most contact problems you have a choice of whether to define contact
interactions using general contact or contact pairs. In
Abaqus/Standard
the distinction between general contact and contact pairs lies primarily in the
user interface, the default numerical settings, and the available options. The
general contact and contact pair implementations share many underlying
algorithms.
The contact interaction domain, contact properties, and surface attributes
are specified independently for general contact, offering a more flexible way
to add detail incrementally to a model. The simple interface for specifying
general contact allows for a highly automated contact definition; however, it
is also possible to define contact with the general contact interface to mimic
traditional contact pairs. Conversely, specifying self-contact of a surface
spanning multiple bodies with the contact pair user interface (if the
surface-to-surface formulation is used) mimics the highly automated approach
often used for general contact.
In
Abaqus/Standard
traditional pairwise specifications of contact interactions may result in more
efficient analyses as compared to an all-inclusive self-contact approach to
defining contact. Therefore, there is often a trade-off between ease of
defining contact and analysis performance.
Using Contact Elements in Contact Simulations
Abaqus/Standard
provides a library of contact elements that can be used to model certain
classes of problems. Examples of such problems are:
Contact Simulation Capabilities in Abaqus/Explicit
Abaqus/Explicit provides two algorithms for modeling contact interactions. The general (“automatic”)
contact algorithm allows very simple definitions of contact with very few restrictions on
the types of surfaces involved. The contact pair
algorithm has more restrictions on the types of surfaces involved and often requires more
careful definition of contact; however, it allows for some interaction behaviors that
currently are not available with the general contact algorithm. The general
contact and contact pairs algoirthms in Abaqus/Explicit differ by more than the user interface; in general they use completely separate
implementations with many key differences in the designs of the numerical algorithms.
The two contact algorithms combine to provide the following capabilities in
Abaqus/Explicit:
Choosing between General Contact or Contact Pairs in Abaqus/Explicit
Contact definitions are not entirely automatic with the general contact
algorithm but are greatly simplified. The generality of this algorithm is
primarily in the relaxed restrictions on the surfaces that can be used in
contact. The general contact algorithm in
Abaqus/Explicit
allows the following (none of which are allowed with the contact pair algorithm
in
Abaqus/Explicit):
Other benefits of the general contact algorithm in
Abaqus/Explicit
include the following:
See
Knee bolster impact with general contact,
Crimp forming with general contact,
and
Collapse of a stack of blocks with general contact
for example analyses that use the general contact algorithm.
Although the general contact algorithm is more powerful and allows for
simpler contact definitions, the contact pair algorithm must be used in certain
cases where more specialized contact features are desired. The following
features are available in
Abaqus/Explicit
only when the contact pair algorithm is used:
In addition, the general contact algorithm in
Abaqus/Explicit
places more restrictions on adaptive meshing than the contact pair algorithm
(see
Defining ALE Adaptive Mesh Domains in Abaqus/Explicit).
The choice of contact algorithm may affect the speedup factor if loop-level
parallelization is used: the contact pair algorithm includes some loop-level
parallelization, while the general contact algorithm has no loop-level
parallelization.
The two contact algorithms can be used together in the same
Abaqus/Explicit
analysis. The general contact algorithm automatically avoids processing
interactions that are treated by the contact pair algorithm.
Compatibility between Abaqus/Standard and Abaqus/Explicit
There are fundamental differences in the mechanical contact algorithms in
Abaqus/Standard
and
Abaqus/Explicit
even though the input syntax is similar. The main differences are the
following:
As a result of these differences, contact definitions specified in an
Abaqus/Standard
analysis cannot be imported into an
Abaqus/Explicit
analysis and vice versa (see
Transferring Results between Abaqus/Explicit and Abaqus/Standard).
However, in many cases you can successfully respecify a contact definition in
an import analysis.
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