Contact searching for analytical rigid surfaces

This problem contains basic test cases for one or more Abaqus elements and features.

This page discusses:

ProductsAbaqus/Explicit

Elements tested

MASS

Features tested

Contact search for analytical rigid surfaces.

Problem description

A number of point masses are shot horizontally at various initial speeds and fall, due to the influence of gravity, onto a complex analytical rigid surface. The surface consists of line, circular, and parabolic segment types and includes several deep valleys to trap the point masses. The robustness of the global contact tracking algorithm is tested as Abaqus/Explicit must correctly determine throughout the analysis which main segment interacts with each secondary node. The time increment size is 0.5 s, which results in very large relative displacements for each point mass during each increment.

Results and discussion

Figure 1 shows the configuration of the point masses at various times. The contact search successfully determines the correct contact surface interactions throughout the analysis.

Figures

Figure 1. Configuration of the model after 0, 1, 2, 3, 11.5, and 25 seconds, respectively.