Keyword type: model definition
This option is used to express that two surfaces can make contact. There is one required parameter: INTERACTION, and three optional parameters: TYPE, SMALL SLIDING and ADJUST. The dependent surface is called the slave surface, the independent surface is the master surface. Surfaces are defined using the *SURFACE keyword card. The dependent surface can be defined as a nodal surface (option TYPE=NODE on the *SURFACE keyword) or as an element face surface (default for the *SURFACE card), whereas the independent surface has to be defined as an element face surface. If you are using quadratic elements, or if you select face-to-face contact, however, the slave surface has to be defined based on element faces and not on nodes.
The INTERACTION parameter takes the name of the surface interaction (keyword *SURFACE INTERACTION) which applies to the contact pair. The surface interaction defines the nature of the contact (hard versus soft contact..)
The TYPE parameter can only take the value SURFACE TO SURFACE. If it is used then face-to-face penalty contact is triggered, if it is omitted then node-to-face penalty contact applies.
The SMALL SLIDING parameter only applies to node-to-face penalty contact. If it is not active, the contact is large sliding. This means that the pairing between the nodes belonging to the dependent surface and faces of the independent surface is performed anew in every iteration. If the SMALL SLIDING parameter is active, the pairing is done once at the start of every increment and kept during the complete increment. SMALL SLIDING usually converges better than LARGE SLIDING, since changes in the pairing can deteriorate the convergence rate.
The ADJUST parameter allows the user to move selected slave nodes at the start of the calculation (i.e. at the start of the first step) such that they make contact with the master surface. This is a change of coordinates, i.e. the geometry of the structure at the start of the calculation is changed. This can be helpful if due to inaccuracies in the modeling a slave node which should lie on the master surface at the start of the calculation actually does not. Especially in static calculations this can lead to a failure to detect contact in the first increment and large displacements (i.e. acceleration due to a failure to establish equilibrium). These large displacements may jeopardize convergence in any subsequent iteration. The ADJUST parameter can be used with a node set as argument or with a nonnegative real number. If a node set is selected, all nodes in the set are adjusted at the start of the calculation. If a real number is specified, all nodes for which the clearance is smaller or equal to this number are adjusted. Penetration is interpreted as a negative clearance and consequently all penetrating nodes are always adjusted, no matter how small the adjustment size (which must be nonnegative). Notice that large adjustments can lead to deteriorated element quality. The adjustments are done along a vector through the slave node and locally orthogonal to the master surface.
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Example: *CONTACT PAIR,INTERACTION=IN1,ADJUST=0.01 dep,ind
defines a contact pair consisting of the surface dep as dependent surface and the element face surface ind as independent surface. The name of the surface interaction is IN1. All slave nodes for which the clearance is smaller than or equal to 0.01 will be moved onto the master surface.
Example files: contact1, contact2.