Understand Contacts

This guide introduces the importance of

simplification before meshing and how to
do it both automatically and manually in
midas NFX.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Why should you use contacts......1
Available contact types ....2

Linear contacts.......3
Nonlinear contacts.....4

Special contacts.....5
Contact parameter.....6

Why should you use

contacts?

Loads are transmitted to the whole model through elements.

However for an assembly with multiple parts, there are no
elements in the gaps between different parts. Therefore,
contacts are needed to transmit loads.
Loads

Gaps between 2 parts

In single part model, loads

transmitted through elements

No element to transmit loads

between 2 parts.

Parts can only interact together if contacts between parts

are defined

No contact

Contact

Page1

Elements in
contact

What are the types of

contacts available?

There are 4 main different contact types: welded contact,

sliding contact, general contact and rough contact.

They can be further divided into linear contacts (welded,

sliding) and nonlinear contacts (General, rough).
Vertical
behavior

Linear
Contact

Contact
Type

Horizontal
behavior

Welded

No
separation

No
separation

Bi-directional
sliding

No
separation

Sliding
occurs

Rough

Can separate

No sliding

General

Can separate

Sliding
occurs

Nonlinear
Contact

(friction coefficient can be applied)

Vertical behavior

Part 1
Part 2

Page2

Horizontal
behavior

Linear contacts

linear contacts include welded contact and sliding contact.

2 parts welded
together

Welded contact is used

when 2 parts of an
assembly are glued
together and behave as
one body.
Sliding contact is used
when 2 parts of an
assembly can have a
relative sliding motion.

However, when performing linear static

analysis considering sliding, only a small
sliding is supported.

Welded contact behavior

like one body, no displacement
between 2 parts

Page3

Contact Behavior Comparison

(Behavior of Rail Part)

Sliding contact behavior

Relative motion between 2
parts
Sliding Contact
(Relative Motion)

Nonlinear Contacts

Nonlinear contacts include general contact and rough contact

General contact is used when there is no contact between
objects at the beginning. While the contact happens during
the analysis.
It is widely used in contact analysis, impact & crash analysis
or any type of general contact behavior, thus the name.
General contact support both horizontal and vertical
separation. Friction can be considered as well through
contact parameters.

Before Contact

Contacts happens

Rough Contact is a special type of general contact in which

horizontal sliding between the parts is not possible.
Parts can be separated and enter in contact afterwards, but
then the nodes at the surface of the 2 objects will be
constrained together and wont allow relative sliding.

Page4

Special Contacts

We will introduce 2 kinds of special contacts: breaking-weld

contact and self contact.

Breaking-weld contact is a nonlinear contact that behave like

a welded contact by default. However when contact force
between the 2 objects becomes too big, the parts can
become separated again.
Self contact is used when a surface is in contact with itself. It
can be defined as general contact or rough contact.
Breaking-weld contact: 2
parts are separate due to
large force

Self contact: object

contacts with itself due to
deformation

Page5

Contact Parameters

In midas NFX, contact pairs can be detected and assigned

automatically. Here we introduce the parameters that can be
assigned to each different contact pair.
Contact tolerance:
constant value which decides
search distance when detecting
contact surfaces.
(For welded and sliding contact, contact
happens when master and slave surfaces
are within this tolerant distance. For
general and rough contact, contact
happens when master and slave surfaces
arrive within this tolerance distance).

Master Contact Extension Ratio :

Contact surface search distance
can also be defined as the product
of master surfaces mesh size and
this extension ratio. Defaults value
is 0.005.
Remove Initial Penetration by
Adjusting Slave Nodes :
If the slave contact nodes have
already penetrated the master
contact surface at the beginning,
position of the slave nodes will be
justified automatically in order to
suppress the penetration
Structural Nonlinear Analysis without Geometric Nonlinearity- Max. Search
Distance
When geometric nonlinearity is not considered, this option defines the search
distance from the master contact surface to find the slave contact surface.

Page6

When clicking on Advanced Contact Parameters, more

parameters can be defined.
Normal Failure force for
breaking-weld contact:
When using breaking weld contact,
contact will be separated if the
contact force is superior to this
Normal Failure Force.
Shear Failure Force for breakingweld contact:
When using breaking weld contact,
contact will be separated if the
shear contact force is superior to
the Shear Failure Force.

Page7

Now you are

ready to use
contacts in your
own analysis !
Please contact us if you have any question
during your trial:
Email: Info@MidasUser.com
Telephone: +82-31-789-4040