Contact analysis in ANSYS (from the Help

Manual)
1 Introduction
Contact problems present two significant difficulties:
- First, you generally do not know the regions of contact until you've run the problem.
- Second, most contact problems need to account for friction. Frictional response can be chaotic,
making solution convergence difficult.

In addition to these two difficulties, many contact problems must also address multi-field effects,
such as the conductance of heat, electrical currents, and magnetic flux in the areas of contact.
If you do not need to account for friction in your model, and the interaction between the bodies is
always bonded, you may be able to use the internal multipoint constraint (MPC) feature. Another
alternative is to use constraint equations or coupled degrees of freedom instead of contact to model
these situations.

1.1 Classification
Contact problems fall into two general classes: rigid-to-flexible and flexible-to-flexible. Contact
problems fall into two general classes: rigid-to-flexible and flexible-to-flexible.
Five contact models are available: node-to-node, node-to-surface, surface-to-surface, line-to-line,
and line-to-surface.
We will concentrate our attention on: surface-to-surface contact elements.

2 Surface-to-Surface Contact
In problems involving contact between two boundaries, one of the boundaries is conventionally
established as the "target" surface, and the other as the "contact" surface. For rigid-flexible contact,
the target surface is always the rigid surface, and the contact surface is the deformable surface. For
flexible-to-flexible contact, both contact and target surfaces are associated with the deformable
bodies.

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2.1 Identifying Contact Pairs
Target and contact elements that make up a contact pair are associated with each other via a shared
real constant set. The contact zone can be arbitrary; however, for the most efficient solution
(primarily in CPU time), you may want to define smaller, localized contacting zones, but be sure
your zones are adequate to capture all necessary contact. Different contact pairs must be defined by
a different real constant set, even if the element real constant values do not change. There is no limit
on the number of surfaces allowed.

2.2 Designating Contact and Target Surfaces

For rigid-to-flexible contact, the designation is obvious: the target surface is always the rigid
surface and the contact surface is always the deformable surface.
For flexible-to-flexible contact, consider the following guidelines when designating the surfaces:

• If a convex surface is expected to come into contact with a flat or concave surface, the
flat/concave surface should be the target surface.
• If one surface has a fine surface mesh and, in comparison, the other has a coarse mesh, the
fine mesh should be the contact surface and the coarse mesh should be the target surface.
• If one surface is stiffer then the other, the softer surface should be the contact surface and
the stiffer surface should be the target surface.
• If higher-order elements underly one of the external surfaces and lower-order elements
underly the other surface, the surface with the underlying higher-order elements should be
the contact surface and the other surface should be the target.
• If one surface is markedly larger than the other surface, such as in the instance where one
surface surrounds the other surface, the larger surface should be the target surface.

2.2.1 Defining the Target Surface

The target surface can be 2-D or 3-D and either rigid or deformable.
In 2-D cases, the shape of the target surface is described by a sequence of straight lines, circular
arcs, and parabolas, all of which can be represented with the target segment element TARGE169.
In 3-D cases, the shape of the target surfaces is described by a sequence of triangles, quadrilaterals,
straight lines, parabolas, cylinders, cones, and spheres, which can be represented with TARGE170.
Example of generation of target elements:

ET,3,TARGE169 (or TARGE170)

KEYOPT,3,2,0 (nodes of rigid target elements are automatically constrained) or 1 (nodes of rigid
target elements are manually constrained)
KEYOPT,3,3,0 (the thermal behavior of contact surface is based on contact status) or 1 (the contact
surface is treated as a free-surface)
KEYOPT,3,4, (used to define the DOF set to be constrained in solid-solid and shell-shell
assemblies or surface-based constraints.
A surface-based constraint can be used to couple the motion of nodes on the contact surface
to a single pilot node on the target surface. The multipoint constraint (MPC) capability of
the contact elements (KEYOPT(2) = 2) allows you to define two types of surface-based
constraints:

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 Rigid surface constraint - In this type of constraint, the contact nodes are constrained to the
rigid body motion defined by the pilot node (see Figure 9.5), similar to a constraint defined
by the CERIG command.

Force-distributed constraint - In this type of constraint, forces or displacements applied on

the pilot node are distributed to contact nodes (in an average sense) through shape functions
(see Figure 9.6), similar to a constraint defined by the RBE3 command.

These surface-based constraints can be used in the following applications:

• To apply loads and boundary conditions to the pilot node (such as torque load or drill
rotation). Example: a bolt head submitted to a torque force using a force-distributed
constraint.
• To model rigid bodies. Example: rigid body definition in multi-body dynamics.
• To model rigid end conditions. Example: using a rigid surface constraint to model a rigid
end plate or rigid plane section of 3-D solid elements.
• To model interactions with other joints. Example: two flexible parts linked by a hinge.
This can be modeled by two force-distributed constraint definitions whose pilot nodes are
connected by a revolute joint element.)
REAL,r1,r2 (You need to define r1 or r2 only if you use direct generation to create your target
elements.)
LSEL,S,,,numbers of lines or ASEL,S,,,numbers of areas
CM,_TARGET,LINE or CM,_TARGET,AREA
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TYPE,3
NSLL,S,1 or NSLA,S,1
ESLN,S,0
ESURF,ALL
ALLSEL,ALL

After generation of target elements you need verifying nodal number ordering (i.e. the versus of the
element normals. To check the direction of the normals, turn on the element coordinate systems:

/PSYMB,ESYS,1

If the element normals do not point toward the contact surface, select this element and reverse the
direction of the surface normals:

ESURF,,REVE

or, reorient the element normals:

ENORM, Element number having the normal direction that the reoriented elements are to match.

2.2.1.1 Pilot nodes

The rigid target surface can also be associated with a "pilot node," which is really an element with
one node, whose motion governs the motion of the entire target surface. You can think of a pilot
node as a handle for the rigid target surface. Forces/moments or rotations/displacements for the
entire target surface usually should be prescribed on the pilot node. The pilot node can be one of the
nodes on the target element or a node at any arbitrary location. The location of the pilot node is
important only when rotation or moment loading is required.

2.2.2 Defining the Contact Surface

To create the deformable contact surface, you must define that surface using one of the following
contact elements:

2D Surface-to-Surface contact:
- CONTA171 (2-node line element)
- CONTA172 (3-node line element)

3D Surface-to-Surface contact:
- CONTA173 (4-node surface element)
- CONTA174 (8-node surface element)

2D/3D Node-to-Surface contact:

- CONTA175

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The contact surface elements are of the same order as the underlying elements (lower- or higher-
order), with compatible nodes along the edges. The higher-order contact elements can match lower-
order underlying elements by dropping the midside nodes.

Example of generation of contact elements:

ET,4,CONTA171 (or CONTA173)

KEYOPT,4,.... (see section 2.2.2.1)
........
REAL,... (see section 2.2.2.1)
........
LSEL,S,,,numbers of lines or ASEL,S,,,numbers of areas
CM,_CONTACT,LINE or CM,_CONTACT,AREA
TYPE,4
NSLL,S,1 or NSLA,S,1
ESLN,S,0
ESURF,ALL
(If the underlying elements are beam or shell elements, you must indicate which surface (top or
bottom) is the target surface: ESURF,, TOP or BOTTOM)
ALLSEL,ALL

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After generation of contact elements you need verifying the versus of the element normals. To
check the direction of the normals, turn on the element coordinate systems:

/PSYMB,ESYS,1

If the element normals do not point toward the contact surface, select this element and reverse the
direction of the surface normals:

ESURF,,REVE

or, reorient the element normals:

ENORM, Element number having the normal direction that the reoriented elements are to match.

2.2.2.1 Set the Real Constants and Element KEYOPTS

ANSYS uses several real constants and KEYOPTs to control contact behavior using surface-to-
surface contact elements.

REAL CONSTANT

• R1 and R2 define the target element geometry.

• FKN defines a normal contact stiffness factor.
• FTOLN is a factor based on the thickness of the element which is used to calculate
allowable penetration.
• ICONT defines an initial closure factor (or adjustment band).
• PINB defines a "pinball" region.
• PMIN and PMAX define an allowable penetration range for initial penetration.
• TAUMAX specifies the maximum contact friction.
• CNOF specifies the positive or negative offset value applied to the contact surface.
• FKOP specifies the stiffness factor applied when contact opens or the damping coefficient
for standard contact.
• FKT specifies the tangent contact stiffness factor.
• COHE specifies the cohesion sliding resistance.
• TCC specifies the thermal contact conductance coefficient.
• FHTG specifies the fraction of frictional dissipated energy converted into heat.
• SBCT specifies the Stefan-Boltzmann constant.
• RDVF specifies the radiation view factor.
• FWGT specifies the weight factor for the distribution of heat between the contact and target
surfaces for thermal contact or for electric contact.
• ECC specifies the electric contact conductance or capacitance per unit area.
• FHEG specifies the fraction of electric dissipated energy converted into heat.
• FACT specifies the ratio of static to dynamic coefficients of friction.
• DC specifies the decay coefficient for static/dynamic friction.

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 • SLTO controls maximum sliding distance when MU is nonzero and the tangent contact
stiffness (FKT) is updated at each iteration (KEYOPT(10) = 2) or when KEYOPT(2) = 3.
• TNOP specifies the maximum allowable tensile contact pressure.
• TOLS adds a small tolerance that extends the edge of the target surface.
• MCC specifies the magnetic contact permeance (3-D only).
• PPCN specifies the pressure-penetration criterion (surface contact elements only).
• FPAT specifies the fluid penetration acting time (surface contact elements only).
• COR specifies the coefficient of restitution for impact between rigid bodies using impact
constraints (KEYOPT(7) = 4).
• STRM specifies load step number for ramping penetration.

For the real constants FKN, FTOLN, ICONT, PINB, PMAX, PMIN, FKOP, FKT, SLTO, and
TNOP, you can specify either a positive or negative value. ANSYS interprets a positive value as a
scaling factor and interprets a negative value as the absolute value. ANSYS uses the depth of the
underlying element as the reference value to be used for ICONT, FTOLN, PINB, PMAX, and
PMIN. For example, a positive value of 0.1 for ICONT indicates an initial closure factor of 0.1 x
depth of the underlying element. However, a negative value of 0.1 indicates an actual adjustment
band of 0.1 units.

ELEMENT KEYOPTS

• Degrees of freedom (KEYOPT(1))

• Contact algorithm (defaults to augmented Lagrangian) (KEYOPT(2))
• Stress state when superelements are present (KEYOPT(3)) for 2-D surface-to-surface
contact (see note below for other meanings of KEYOPT(3))
• Location of contact detection point (KEYOPT(4))
• CNOF Automated adjustment (KEYOPT(5))
• Contact stiffness variation range (KEYOPT(6))

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 • Time step control and impact constraints (KEYOPT(7))
• Asymmetric contact selection (KEYOPT(8))
• Effect of initial penetration or gap (KEYOPT(9))
• Contact stiffness update (KEYOPT(10))
• Shell thickness effect (KEYOPT(11)) (not applicable to CONTA176 or CONTA177)
• Behavior of contact surface (rough, bonded, etc.) (KEYOPT(12))
• Behavior of fluid penetration load (KEYOPT(14))

2.2.2.1.1 FKN, FTOLN, FKT and SLTO

The real constant FKN defines a normal contact stiffness factor. The usual factor range is from
0.01-1.0, with a default of 1.0. The default value is appropriate for bulk deformation. If bending
deformation dominates, we recommend using a smaller value (0.1).

FTOLN is a tolerance factor to be applied in the direction of the surface normal. The range for this
factor is less than 1.0 (usually less than 0.2), with a default of 0.1, and is based on the depth of the
underlying element. This factor is used to determine if penetration compatibility is satisfied.
Contact compatibility is satisfied if penetration is within an allowable tolerance (FTOLN times the
depth of underlying elements). The depth is defined by the average depth of each individual contact
element in the pair. If ANSYS detects any penetration larger than this tolerance, the global solution
is still considered unconverged, even though the residual forces and displacement increments have
met convergence criteria. You can also define an absolute allowable penetration by specifying a
negative value for FTOLN.

A default tangential contact stiffness FKT is proportional to MU and the normal stiffness FKN. The
default tangential stiffness corresponds to a default value of FKT = 1.0. A positive value for FKT is
a factor; a negative value indicates an absolute value of tangential stiffness.

The real constant SLTO is used to control maximum sliding distance when FKT is updated at each
iteration. You can override the default values for SLTO (1% of average contact length in pair) by
defining a scaling factor (positive value when using command input) or an absolute value (negative
value when using command input). A larger value will enhance convergence but compromise
accuracy.

FKN, FTOLN, FKT, and SLTO can be modified from one load step to another.
To arrive at a good stiffness value, you can try the following procedure as a "trial run":

• Use a low value for the contact stiffness to start. In general, it is better to underestimate this
value rather than overestimate it. Penetration problems resulting from a low stiffness are
easier to fix than convergence difficulties that arise from a high stiffness.
• Run the analysis up to a fraction of the final load (just enough to get the contact fully
established).
• Check the penetration and the number of equilibrium iterations used in each substep. If the
global convergence difficulty is caused by too much penetration (rather than by residual
forces and displacement increments), FKN may be underestimated or FTOLN may be too
small. If the global convergence requires many equilibrium iterations for achieving

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 convergence tolerances of residual forces and displacements rather than the resulting
penetration, FKN or FKT may be overestimated.
• Adjust FKN, FKT, FTOLN, or SLTO as necessary and run the full analysis. If the
penetration control becomes dominant in the global equilibrium iterations (that is, if more
iterations were used to converge the problem to within the penetration tolerance than to
converge the residual forces), you may increase FTOLN to permit more allowable
penetration or increase FKN.

2.2.2.1.2 Friction model: TAUMAX, FACT, DC, and COHE

In the basic Coulomb friction model, two contacting surfaces 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 Coulomb friction model defines an equivalent shear stress τ, at which sliding on the
surface begins as a fraction of the contact pressure p (τ = µp + COHE, where µ is the friction
coefficient and COHE specifies the cohesion sliding resistance). Once the shear stress is exceeded,
the two surfaces will slide relative to each other. This state is known as sliding.

If frictional stresses have a substantial influence on the overall displacement field and the
magnitude of the frictional stresses is highly solution dependent, choose the unsymmetric solution
option (NROPT,UNSYM) to improve convergence.

The interface coefficient of friction, MU, is used for the Coulomb friction model. You can input
MU as a material property for the contact elements.

Real constant TAUMAX is maximum contact friction with units of stress. This maximum contact
friction stress can be introduced so that, regardless of the magnitude of normal contact pressure,
sliding will occur if the friction stress reaches this value.

Real constant used for the friction law is the cohesion, COHE (default COHE = 0), which has units
of stress. It provides sliding resistance, even with zero normal pressure.

FACT and DC are involved in specifying static and dynamic friction coefficients.

The coefficient of friction can depend on the relative velocity of the surfaces in contact. Typically,
the static coefficient of friction is higher than the dynamic coefficient of friction.

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2.2.2.1.2.1 Forced Frictional Sliding Using Velocity Input
In a static analysis, you can model steady-state frictional sliding between two flexible bodies or
between a flexible and a rigid body with different velocities. In this case the sliding velocities no
longer follow the nodal displacements, and they are predefined through the CMROTATE
command. This command sets the velocities on the nodes of the element component as an initial
condition at the start of a load step. The sliding direction is calculated on the basis of the direction
of the sliding velocities. The amplitude of the velocities does not affect the solution.
This feature is primarily useful for generating sliding contact at frictional contact interfaces in a
brake squeal analysis. In this case, the contact pair elements (either the contact elements or the
target elements) on the brake rotor need to be included in the rotating element component (CM
command) that is specified on the CMROTATE command. We recommend that you include only
the contact elements or only the target elements in the element component.

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2.2.2.2 Using PMIN, PMAX, CNOF, ICONT, STRM.
In static analyses, rigid body motion occurs when a body is not sufficiently restrained. "Zero or
negative pivot" warning messages and impractical, excessively large displacements indicate
unconstrained motion in a static analysis.
In simulations where rigid body motions are constrained only by the presence of contact, you must
ensure that the contact pairs are in contact in the initial geometry. In other words, you want to build
your model so that the contact pairs are "just touching."
For the same reasons, too much initial penetration between target and contact surfaces can occur. In
such cases, the contact elements may overestimate the contact forces, resulting in nonconvergence
or in breaking-away of the components in contact.
The definition of initial contact is perhaps the most important aspect of building a contact analysis
model.
The following techniques can be performed independently or in combinations of one or more at the
beginning of the analysis. They are intended to eliminate small gaps or penetrations caused by
numerical round-off due to mesh generation. They are not intended to correct gross errors in either
the mesh or in the geometric data.

• Use real constant CNOF to specify a contact surface offset. Specify a positive value to offset
the entire contact surface towards the target surface. Use a negative value to offset the
contact surface away from the target surface. NSYS can automatically provide the CNOF
value to either just close the gap or reduce initial penetration. Set KEYOPT(5) as follows:

1- Closes the gap

2- Reduces initial penetration
3- Either closes the gap or reduces initial penetration

• Use the real constant ICONT to specify a small initial contact closure. The difference
between CNOF and ICONT is that the former shifts the entire contact surface with the
distance value CNOF, the latter moves all initially open contact points which are inside of
adjustment band ICONT onto the target surface.

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 • Use real constants PMIN and PMAX to specify an initial allowable penetration range. When
either PMAX or PMIN is specified, ANSYS brings the target surface into a state of initial
contact at the beginning of the analysis (see the following figure). If the initial penetration is
larger than PMAX, ANSYS adjusts the target surface to reduce penetration. If the initial
penetration is smaller than PMIN (and within the pinball region), ANSYS adjusts the target
surface to ensure initial contact. If the target surface is constrained initial adjustment can
fail.

2.2.2.2.1 FKOP
For no separation or bonded contact (KEYOPT(12) = 2 through 6), FKOP is the stiffness factor
applied when contact opens. For standard or rough contact (KEYOPT(12) = 0 or 1), FKOP
represents a contact damping coefficient. When modeling either no-separation or bonded contact,
you may need to set a value for FKOP to apply a stiffness factor when contact opens.
No separation and bonded contact generate a "pull-back" force when contact opening occurs, and
that force may not completely prevent separation. To reduce separation, define a larger value for
FKOP.
For standard contact (KEYOPT(12) = 0) or rough contact (KEYOPT(12) = 1), you can use FKOP
to define a contact damping coefficient. This option is primarily used to damp relative motions
between the contact and target surfaces for open contact. It provides certain resistance to reduce the
risk of rigid body motion.

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2.2.2.2.2 KEYOPT(2)
For surface-to-surface contact elements, ANSYS offers several different contact algorithms:

• Penalty method (KEYOPT(2) = 1)

• Augmented Lagrangian (default) (KEYOPT(2) = 0)
• Lagrange multiplier on contact normal and penalty on tangent (KEYOPT(2) = 3)
• Pure Lagrange multiplier on contact normal and tangent (KEYOPT(2) = 4)
• Internal multipoint constraint (MPC) (KEYOPT(2) = 2)

The penalty method uses a contact "spring" to establish a relationship between the two contact
surfaces. The spring stiffness is called the contact stiffness. This method uses the following real
constants: FKN and FKT for all values of KEYOPT(10), plus FTOLN and SLTO if KEYOPT(10) =
2.
The augmented Lagrangian method (which is the default) is an iterative series of penalty
methods. The contact tractions (pressure and frictional stresses) are augmented during equilibrium
iterations so that the final penetration is smaller than the allowable tolerance (FTOLN). Compared
to the penalty method, the augmented Lagrangian method usually leads to better conditioning and is
less sensitive to the magnitude of the contact stiffness. However, in some analyses, the augmented
Lagrangian method may require additional iterations, especially if the deformed mesh becomes too
distorted.
The pure Lagrange multiplier method enforces zero penetration when contact is closed and "zero
slip" when sticking contact occurs. The pure Lagrange multiplier method does not require contact
stiffness, FKN and FKT. Instead it requires chattering control parameters, FTOLN and TNOP. This
method 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 Lagrangian method.
An alternative algorithm is the Lagrange multiplier method applied on the contact normal and
the penalty method (tangential contact stiffness) on the frictional plane. This method enforces
zero penetration and allows a small amount of slip for the sticking contact condition. It requires
chattering control parameters, FTOLN and TNOP, as well as the maximum allowable elastic slip
parameter SLTO.
Another method, the internal multipoint constraint (MPC) algorithm, is used in conjunction
with bonded contact (KEYOPT(12) = 5 or 6) and no separation contact (KEYOPT(12) = 4) to
model several types of contact assemblies and kinematic constraints.

2.2.2.2.3 KEYOPT(10)
The normal and tangential contact stiffness can be updated during the course of an analysis, either
automatically (due to large strain effects that change the underlying element's stiffness) or explicitly
(by user-specified FKN or FKT values). KEYOPT(10) governs how the normal and tangential
contact stiffness is updated when the augmented Lagrangian or penalty method is used. In most
cases we recommend that you use KEYOPT(10) = 2 to allow the program to update contact
stiffnesses automatically.

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2.2.2.2.4 KEYOPT(6)
The default method of updating normal contact stiffness is suitable for most applications. However,
the variational range of the contact stiffness may not be wide enough to handle certain contact
situations. In the case of a very small penetration tolerance (FTOLN), a larger normal contact
stiffness is often needed. Furthermore, to stabilize the initial contact condition and to prevent rigid
body motion, a smaller normal contact stiffness is required.
To increase the stiffness variational range (stiffness updating when KEYOPT(10) = 2), set
KEYOPT(6) = 1 to make a nominal refinement to the allowable stiffness range, or KEYOPT(6) = 2
to make an aggressive refinement to the allowable stiffness range.

2.2.2.2.5 KEYOPT(4) and TOLS

The nodal detection algorithms require the smoothing of the contact surface (KEYOPT(4) = 1) or
the smoothing of the target surface (KEYOPT(4) = 2).
Be aware, however, that using nodes as the contact detection points can lead to other convergence
difficulties, such as "node slippage," where the node slips off the edge of the target surface.
Real constant TOLS is used to add a small tolerance that will internally extend the edge of the target
surface when you define the contact detection at the nodal point (KEYOPT(4) = 1 or 2). TOLS is
useful for problems where contact nodes are likely to lie on the edge of target.

You can define the surface projection contact method by setting KEYOPT(4) = 3 for CONTA173
and CONTA174. For this method, the contact detection remains at contact nodal points. This option
enforces a contact constraint on an overlapping region of the contact and target surfaces (see Figure
3.16) rather than on individual contact nodes (KEYOPT(4) = 1, 2) or Gauss points (KEYOPT(4) =
0). This method gives more accurate results but it is computationally more expensive.

2.2.2.2.6 KEYOPT(9)
Set KEYOPT(9) to adjust initial penetration or gap. KEYOPT(9) provides the following
capabilities:

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 • To include initial penetration from both geometry and contact surface offset, set
KEYOPT(9) = 0. This is the default.
• To ignore initial penetration from both effects, set KEYOPT(9) = 1. When KEYOPT(12) =
4 or 5, this setting for KEYOPT(9) will also ignore the initial force in open-gap springs, thus
creating an initially "perfect" contacting surface having no initial forces acting across the
contact interface.
• To include the defined contact surface offset (CNOF) but ignore the initial penetration due
to geometry, set KEYOPT(9) = 3. When KEYOPT(12) = 4 or 5, this setting for KEYOPT(9)
will also ignore the initial force in open-gap springs, thus creating an initially "perfect"
contacting surface having no initial forces acting across the contact interface.

2.2.2.2.7 KEYOPT(12)

Use KEYOPT(12) to model different contact surface behaviors.

• KEYOPT(12) = 0 models standard unilateral contact; that is, normal pressure equals zero if
separation occurs.
• KEYOPT(12) = 1 models perfectly rough frictional contact where there is no sliding. This
case corresponds to an infinite friction coefficient and ignores the material property MU.
• KEYOPT(12) = 2 models no separation contact, in which the target and contact surfaces are
tied (although sliding is permitted) for the remainder of the analysis once contact is
established.
• KEYOPT(12) = 3 models "bonded" contact, in which the target and contact surfaces are
bonded in all directions (once contact is established) for the remainder of the analysis.

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 • KEYOPT(12) = 4 models no separation contact, in which contact detection points that are
either initially inside the pinball region or that once involve contact always attach to the
target surface along the normal direction to the contact surface (sliding is permitted).
• KEYOPT(12) = 5 models bonded contact, in which contact detection points that are either
initially inside the pinball region or that once involve contact always attach to the target
surface along the normal and tangent directions to the contact surface (fully bonded).
• KEYOPT(12) = 6 models bonded contact, in which the contact detection points that are
initially in a closed state will remain attached to the target surface and the contact detection
points that are initially in an open state will remain open throughout the analysis.

2.2.2.2.8 KEYOPT(11)
You can account for the thickness of shells (2-D and 3-D) and beams (2-D) using KEYOPT(11).
When you set KEYOPT(11) = 1 to account for beam or shell thickness, the contact distance is
calculated from either the top or the bottom surface as specified previously.

2.2.2.2.9 KEYOPT(7)
Use KEYOPT(7) = 0, 1, 2, or 3 to control time stepping.

• KEYOPT(7) = 0: No control. The time step size is unaffected by the prediction. This setting
is appropriate for most analyses when automatic time stepping is activated and a small time
step size is allowed.
• KEYOPT(7) = 1: Time step size is bisected if too much penetration occurs during an
iteration, or if the contact status changes dramatically.
• KEYOPT(7) = 2: Predict a reasonable increment for the next substep.
• KEYOPT(7) = 3: Predict a minimal time increment for the next substep.
• KEYOPT(7) = 4: Use impact constraints for standard or rough contact (KEYOPT(12) = 0 or
1) in a transient dynamic analysis with automatic adjustment of the time increment.

3 Fluid Pressure-Penetration Loads

Pressure-penetration loads can simulate surrounding fluid or air penetrating into the contact
interface, based on the contact status. You can apply pressure-penetration loads to flexible-to-
flexible or rigid-to-flexible contact pairs.
Fluid pressure can penetrate into the contact interface from one or multiple locations. At the
beginning of each iteration, ANSYS first detects starting points which are exposed to the fluid
pressure. Among the starting points, ANSYS then finds fluid penetrating points where the contact
status is open or lost, or where the contact pressure is smaller than the user defined pressure-
penetration criterion. When a contact detection point has a contact condition of “penetrating,” it is
subjected to the fluid pressure, and its nearest neighboring nodes are considered to be the starting
points which are exposed to the fluid pressure as well.
The fluid pressure will not be applied to an area having a contact status of open unless the
edges/ends of the area belong to the starting points.
The fluid pressure starts to penetrate into the interface between contact and target surfaces from the
penetrating points. The fluid penetration can be cut off when contact between the surfaces is
reestablished or when contact pressure is larger than the fluid penetration criterion.

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To model fluid penetration loads, you need to specify the following quantities:

• fluid pressure: The fluid pressure must be applied to contact and target elements:
SFE,ELEM,1,PRES,,VAL1,VAL2,VAL3,VAL4
• fluid penetration starting points: ANSYS will automatically find the default starting points
by selecting free end points of 2-D contact/target surfaces or nodes of free open edges on 3-
D contact/target surfaces

The default starting points can be overwritten using the SFE command.

• fluid penetration criterion: You can specify a pressure-penetration criterion using the contact
element real constant PPCN. When the contact pressure is less than the criterion, the starting
point turns into the penetrating point; that is, fluid pressure starts to penetrate. When the
contact pressure is greater than the criterion, the penetrating point returns back to the
starting point; that is, fluid penetration is cut off.

4 Thermal contact
The following thermal contact features are supported.
• Thermal contact conduction between two contacting surfaces.
• Heat convection from a “free surface” to the environment or between two open surfaces
separated by small gap (“near field” convection).
• Heat radiation from a “free surface” to the environment or between two open surfaces
separated by a small gap (“near field” radiation).
• Heat generation due to frictional dissipation.
• Heat flux input.

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Each contact pair can cover one or more thermal contact features. Which feature is active depends
on the contact status:

• Closed Contact: Thermal contact conduction transfers heat between two contacting
surfaces.
• Frictional Sliding: Frictional dissipated energy generates the heat to both the contact and
target surfaces.
• Near-Field Contact: Both heat convection and radiation between the contact and target
surfaces are taken into account.
• Free-Surface Contact: Heat convection and radiation between the contact surface and the
environment are taken into account.

4.1 Conduction
To take into account the conductive heat transfer between contact and target surfaces, you need to
specify the thermal contact conductance coefficient which is real constant TCC is the thermal
contact conductance coefficient, having units of HEAT/(TIME * TEMPERATURE) for node-to-
surface contact, or units of HEAT/(TIME * TEMPERATURE * AREA) for surface-to-surface
contact.
The conductive heat transfer between two contacting surfaces is defined by
q= TCC x (Ttarget - Tcontact)

4.2 Convection
To model convective heat transfer, you must specify the heat convection coefficient CONV using
the SFE command.

4.3 Radiation
To model radiative heat transfer, which can occur when contact is open

q = RDVF x EMIS x SBCT [(Te + TOFFST)4 - (Tc + TOFFST)4]

you need to specify the following:

• Emissivity value EMIS, specified through the material property definition.

• Stefan-Boltzmann constant SBCT through a real constant.
• Offset temperature TOFFST. If you define your data in terms of degrees Fahrenheit or
degrees Celsius, you must specify a temperature offset using the TOFFST command.
• Radiation view factor RDVF, specified through a real constant (defaults to 1).
• Environment (ambient) temperature. It is only used for modeling radiation between a
portion of the contact surface to the environment when the contact status is “free-surface
contact” .

4.4 Heat generation due to friction

In order to model heat generation due to frictional dissipated energy, you should perform a coupled
transient thermal-structural analysis. If you wish you can turn off transient effects on structural

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DOFs by using TIMINT,STRUC,OFF. However, you must include transient effects on the thermal
DOF. Two real constants are required:

• FHTG is the fraction of frictional dissipated energy converted into heat.

• FWGT is the weight factor for the distribution of heat between contact and target surfaces.

In the coupled thermal-structural contact modeling, the rate of frictional dissipation is given by

q = FHTG x tau (frictional stress) x V (sliding velocity)

The amount of frictional dissipation on contact and target surfaces is defined by

qcontact = FWTG x FHTG x tau x V

qtarget = (1 - FWTG) x FHTG x tau x V

4.5 External heat flux

You can apply heat flux on the contact elements through the SFE command. Only uniform flux can
be applied. Heat flux cannot be applied on target elements. However, for near field contact, the
external flux is applied on contact and will contribute to target elements.
On a given contact element either CONV or HFLUX (but not both) may be specified. However, you
can define two different contact pairs: one models convection and the other models heat flux.

5 Solution
Convergence behavior for contact problems depends strongly on the particular problem. The
options listed below are either typical or recommended for most surface-to-surface contact analyses.

The time step size must be small enough to capture the proper contact zone. The time step size is
specified by a number of substeps (NSUBST)) or the time step size itself (DELTIM).

A reliable way to set an accurate time step size is to turn automatic time stepping on
(AUTOTS,ON).

If the contact status changes during the iteration process, discontinuity can occur.Set the Newton-
Raphson option to FULL (NROPT,FULL,,OFF).

In cases where frictional sliding dominates, set the unsymmetric solver option (NROPT,
UNSYM,,OFF) to avoid slow convergence or divergence

Set the number of equilibrium equations to a number that is appropriate for a reasonable time step
size (NEQIT).

If the iterations tend to become unstable for large increments, use the line search option to stabilize
the calculations (LNSRCH).

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Turn the predictor-corrector option on, except for dynamic analyses (PRED).

If the contact problem involves large sliding, set NLGEOM,ON.

Many convergence failures in contact analyses are the result of using too large a value for contact
stiffness (real constant FKN). Conversely, if overpenetration occurs in your contact analysis, you
probably need a larger value of FKN.

6 POSTPROCESSING
the following shows the various CONT options for the PLNSOL and PLESOL commands.
CONT STAT Contact status[1]:
3-closed and sticking
2-closed and sliding
1-open but near contact (near-field)
0-open and not near contact (far-field)
“ PENE Contact penetration
“ PRES[2] Contact pressure
“ SFRIC[2] Contact friction stress
“ STOT[2] Contact total stress (pressure plus friction)
“ SLIDE Contact sliding distance
“ GAP Contact gap distance
“ FLUX Heat flux at contact surface
“ CNOS Total number of contact status changes during substep
“ FPRS Fluid penetration pressure (surface-to-surface contact only)

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