CONTACT PRESSURE-OVERCLOSURE RELATIONSHIPS

Products: Abaqus/Standard Abaqus/Explicit Abaqus/CAE References

Mechanical contact properties: overview, Section 35.1.1 *CONTACT CONTROLS *SURFACE BEHAVIOR Creating interaction properties, Section 15.12.2 of the Abaqus/CAE User's Manual Customizing contact controls, Section 15.12.3 of the Abaqus/CAE User's Manual

Overview

In Abaqus the following contact pressure-overclosure relationships can be used to define the contact model:

the hard contact relationship minimizes the penetration of the slave surface into the master surface at the constraint locations and does not allow the transfer of tensile stress across the interface; a softened contact relationship in which the contact pressure is a linear function of the clearance between the surfaces; a softened contact relationship in which the contact pressure is an exponential function of the clearance between the surfaces (in Abaqus/Explicit this relationship is available only for the contact pair algorithm); a softened contact relationship in which a tabular pressure-overclosure curve is constructed by progressively scaling the default penalty stiffness (available only for general contact in Abaqus/Explicit); a softened contact relationship in which the contact pressure is a piecewise linear (tabular) function of the clearance between the surfaces; and a relationship in which there is no separation of the surfaces once they contact.

In addition, a viscous damping relationship can be defined that will affect the pressureoverclosure relationship; see Contact damping,Section 35.1.3, for more information. In Abaqus/Standard pressure penetration loads can be applied to model fluid penetrating into the surface between two contacting bodies; see Pressure penetration loading,Section 35.1.7.

Including a contact pressure-overclosure relationship in a contact property definition

By default, a hard contact pressure-overclosure relationship is used for both surfacebased contact and element-based contact. You can include a nondefault contact pressure-overclosure relationship in a specific contact property definition.
Input File Usage: Use both of the following options for surface-based contact:

*SURFACE INTERACTION, NAME=interaction_property_name *SURFACE BEHAVIOR Use both of the following options for element-based contact in Abaqus/Standard: *INTERFACE or *GAP, ELSET=name *SURFACE BEHAVIOR
Abaqus/CAE Usage: Interaction module: contact property editor: Mechanical

Normal Behavior: Constraint enforcement method: Default

Element-based contact is not supported in Abaqus/CAE.

Using the hard contact relationship

The most common contact pressure-overclosure relationship is shown in Figure 35.1.2 1, although the zero-penetration condition may or may not be strictly enforced depending on the constraint enforcement method used (the constraint enforcement methods are discussed in Contact constraint enforcement methods in Abaqus/Standard, Section 36.1.2, and Contact constraint enforcement methods in Abaqus/Explicit, Section 36.2.3). When surfaces are in contact, any contact pressure can be transmitted between them. The surfaces separate if the contact pressure reduces to zero. Separated surfaces come into contact when the clearance between them reduces to zero.
Input File Usage:

*SURFACE BEHAVIOR (omit the PRESSUREOVERCLOSURE parameter to obtain the default hard pressureoverclosure relationship)

Abaqus/CAE Usage: Interaction module: contact property editor: Mechanical

Normal Behavior: Constraint enforcement method:

Default: Pressure-Overclosure: "Hard" Contact

Figure 35.1.21 Default pressure-overclosure relationship.

Using a softened contact relationship

Three types of softened contact relationships are available in Abaqus. The pressureoverclosure relationship can be prescribed by using a linear law, a tabular piecewiselinear law, or an exponential law (in Abaqus/Explicit available only with the contact pair algorithm). For contact involving element-based surfaces and for element-based contact (available only in Abaqus/Standard), the softened contact relationships are specified in terms of overclosure (or clearance) versus contact pressure. For contact involving a node-based surface or nodal contact elements (such as GAP and ITT elements) for which an area or length dimension is not defined, softened contact is specified in terms of overclosure (or clearance) versus contact force. For slave surfaces on beam-type elements in Abaqus/Standard and for the contact pair algorithm in Abaqus/Explicit, specify pressure as force per unit length. If the general contact algorithm in Abaqus/Explicit is being used for slave surfaces on beam-type elements, specify pressure as force per unit area. When using softened contact relationships that have nonzero pressure at zero overclosure (not allowed with the general contact algorithm) in Abaqus/Explicit, you should be aware that initial, nonequilibrated contact pressures may be present in the analysis (seeAdjusting initial surface positions and specifying initial clearances for contact pairs in Abaqus/Explicit, Section 34.5.4).

Softened contact versus hard contact

The softened contact pressure-overclosure relationships might be used to model a soft, thin layer on one or both surfaces. In Abaqus/Standard they are also sometimes useful for numerical reasons because they can make it easier to resolve the contact condition.
Using softened contact in implicit dynamic simulations

Use the softened contact relationship with caution in implicit dynamic impact simulations. If this relationship is used in such a simulation, Abaqus/Standard will not use the impact algorithm, which destroys kinetic energy of the nodes on the surface when impact occurs, but will instead assume a perfectly elastic collision. The consequence of this change is that the slave nodes bounce back immediately after impact with the master surface; hence, extensive chattering may result, leading to convergence problems and small time increments. However, softened contact may work well in implicit dynamic calculations where impact effects are not important; for example, if contact changes are primarily due to sliding motion along a curved surface, such as may occur in low-speed metal forming applications.
Using softened contact in explicit dynamic simulations

In Abaqus/Explicit softened contact can be enforced with either the kinematic or the penalty constraint enforcement method (seeContact constraint enforcement methods in Abaqus/Explicit, Section 36.2.3, for details). With penalty enforcement the contact collisions are elastic except for the influence of contact damping, whereas with softened kinematic contact some energy will be absorbed by the impact because of algorithmic characteristics: the energy absorbed tends to increase as the contact stiffness increases. Another consideration is the effect on the time increment: with kinematic enforcement the stable time increment is independent of the contact stiffness, but with penalty contact the time increment decreases as the contact stiffness increases.
Softened contact defined as a linear function

In a linear pressure-overclosure relationship the surfaces transmit contact pressure when the overclosure between them, measured in the contact (normal) direction, is greater than zero. The linear pressure-overclosure relationship is identical to a tabular relationship with two data points, where the first point is located at the origin. You specify the slope of the pressure-overclosure relationship, k.
Input File Usage:

*SURFACE BEHAVIOR, PRESSURE-OVERCLOSURE=LINEAR k

Abaqus/CAE Usage: Interaction module: contact property editor: Mechanical

Normal Behavior: Constraint enforcement method: Default: Pressure-Overclosure: Linear, Contact stiffness: k

Softened contact defined in tabular form

To define a piecewise-linear pressure-overclosure relationship in tabular form, as shown in Figure 35.1.22, you specify data pairs ( , ) of pressure versus overclosure (where overclosure corresponds to negative clearance). You must specify the data as an increasing function of pressure and overclosure. In this relationship the surfaces transmit contact pressure when the overclosure between them, measured in the contact (normal) direction, is greater than , where is the overclosure at zero pressure. For the general contact algorithm in Abaqus/Explicit must be zero. For overclosures greater than the pressure-overclosure relationship is extrapolated based on the last slope computed from the user-specified data (see Figure 35.1.22). Figure 35.1.22 Softened pressure-overclosure relationship defined in tabular form.

Input File Usage:

*SURFACE BEHAVIOR, PRESSUREOVERCLOSURE=TABULAR

Abaqus/CAE Usage: Interaction module: contact property editor: Mechanical

Normal Behavior: Constraint enforcement method: Default: Pressure-Overclosure: Tabular

Softened contact defined as a geometric scaling of the default contact stiffness

An alternative piecewise linear tabular pressure-overclosure relationship can be constructed by geometrically scaling the default contact stiffness. This model provides a simple interface to increase the default contact stiffness when a critical penetration is

exceeded. A penetration measure, , is defined either directly or as a fraction, , of the minimum element length, , in the contact region. Each time the current penetration exceeds a multiple of this penetration measure, the contact stiffness is scaled by a factor, (see Figure 35.1.23). The initial stiffness is set equal to the default contact stiffness, , multiplied by a factor, . Figure 35.1.23 Softened scale factor pressure-overclosure relationship.

This option is available only for the general contact algorithm in Abaqus/Explicit.
Input File Usage:

*SURFACE BEHAVIOR, PRESSURE-OVERCLOSURE=SCALE FACTOR

Abaqus/CAE Usage: Interaction module: contact property editor: Mechanical

Normal Behavior: Constraint enforcement method: Default: Pressure-Overclosure: Scale Factor (General Contact)

Softened contact defined with an exponential law

In an exponential (soft) contact pressure-overclosure relationship the surfaces begin to transmit contact pressure once the clearance between them, measured in the contact (normal) direction, reduces to . The contact pressure transmitted between the surfaces then increases exponentially as the clearance continues to diminish. Figure 35.1.24 illustrates this behavior in Abaqus/Standard. In Abaqus/Explicit this behavior is available only for the contact pair algorithm. Figure 35.1.24 Exponential softened pressure-overclosure relationship in Abaqus/Standard.

In Abaqus/Explicit you can specify an optional limit on the contact stiffness that the model can attain, (see Figure 35.1.25); this limit is useful for penalty contact to mitigate the effect that large stiffnesses have on reducing the stable time increment.

Figure 35.1.25 Exponential softened pressure-overclosure relationship in Abaqus/Explicit.

By default, will be set to infinity for kinematic contact and to the default penalty stiffness for penalty contact.

You specify ; the contact pressure at zero clearance, Abaqus/Explicit, .

Input File Usage:

; and, optionally in

*SURFACE BEHAVIOR, PRESSUREOVERCLOSURE=EXPONENTIAL , ,

Abaqus/CAE Usage: Interaction module: contact property editor: Mechanical

Normal Behavior: Constraint enforcement method: Default: Pressure-Overclosure: Exponential, Pressure , Clearance , Specify: