2014 SD Mechanical Contact Best Practices PDF

Workbench Mechanical Contact Best
Practices
1 2014 ANSYS, Inc. December 16, 2014 ANSYS Confidential

Why are these best practices important?
With typical structural problems, the presence of

nonlinear contact can often be the biggest reason for
increased solution times.
Poorly defined contact may lead to unstable contact
conditions. These conditions usually mean bad
convergence and lost time.
With properly defined contact conditions and meshes,
contact results converge much more quickly and the
results tend to be smoother.

What this presentation will cover
Section 1: Contact Setup and Verification:
Contact Generation and Management Tips
Section 2: Getting Ready for the Solver:
Mesh Quality & Mesh Sizing
Setting the Contact Formulation
Advantages of MPC Contact
Understanding the Effect of Contact Stiffness
Overlapping Contact and Boundary Conditions
Section 3: Dealing With Non Convergence
Diagnostic Tools
Contact Results Tool
Procedure for Overcoming Convergence Difficulties
Section 4: Whats new at R15 in Contact

Section 1: Contact Generation and
Management Tips

Automatic Contact Generation
On import, or when requested, Contact Pairs will automatically be
detected and generated in Mechanical. Searching options can be set on
the Contact Folder such as:
Scoping (Search
Entire assembly or selected
bodies)
Auto Detection Tolerance.
Topology types (e.g. Face/Face)
Grouping Options

Adding Manual Contact Pairs
If a required contact has a gap which
is outside of the search tolerance, it
can be added manually.
Gap > Tolerance

Using Multiple Contact Folders
Multiple Connection Folders Can Be Used

Allows for different automatic detection settings
Better organize and track large numbers of contact regions

Contact Search/Select
RMB Go To options to find Connections

acting on a Geometric Selection
Use Tags To Keep Track of

Certain Pairs Of Interest

Using the Worksheet
The worksheet view is a great way to review all of the contact settings
Rows can be sorted
Column Visibility can be
by clicking on column
controlled via RMB
header

Body Views
A quick way to spatially identify contact regions especially when
contact occurs interior to model
Activated via Button on Contact Toolbar

Shell Contact Normal Directions
Undesirable Normals
To model the self-contact
F
when pinching this shell, the
normal direction of the
contacts must be correct.
Contact desired to occur on the F

underside of the shell
Desired Normals
F
Use the Shell Face properties F
to flip the normal directions

Using the Initial Contact Tool
Use the Initial Contact Tool to quickly learn about contact
status before solving.
Inserted under Connection Folder
Information reported which pairs are open/closed,
how much initial penetration, inactive pairs, etc.
Color coding to help user identify possible issues
Contour results such as status and Penetration can
be calculated

Section 2: Getting Ready for the Solver

The Goal: Robust Defaults
Robust defaults that solve

the largest variety of
contact situations is our
goal

Mesh Quality
Poor mesh quality in solid elements Poor

can cause convergence problems. Mesh
A difficult contact problem may be Quality
diverging simply because of the mesh on
Contact
Tip: Use aggressive shape checking Surface
for nonlinear contact problems.
Better
Mesh
Quality

Mesh Sizing
On curved surfaces, or surfaces

which deform to a curve, having
sufficient contact elements to
closely follow the curvature is
essential for smooth results.
This is especially true for nonlinear Too few elements
contact
Use similar element sizes for the
source and target sides.
Better set elements with similar

mesh density

Understanding Contact Formulation
Augmented Lagrange (Default): Suitable

for most problems.
Pure Penalty:
Contact occurring only on Edge or Corner
MPC (Multi-Point Constraint): Ideal for all
linear contact when there is no over-
constraint
Normal Lagrange:
Highest accuracy
Contact with material nonlinearities
Between shells or thin layers
Interference fit
Large Sliding

Advantages of MPC Contact
MPC is a true linear contact for small-deflection

applications
When convergence is difficult switching to MPC is
an attractive alternative to changing the contact
stiffness.
MPC contact prevents artificial stiffness when gaps
exist between curved surfaces. (Another
alternative is to use joints)
Ideal for shell-solid, shell-shell, and beam-shell
Gap between bonded parts
contacts
A caveat is that MPC is the most sensitive contact
type to overconstraint, so avoid it when there are
other contacts or boundary conditions with shared
topology!

Viewing the MPC Equations
After the solution is done

MPC equations and other
FE Connections can be
graphically viewed

Contact Stiffness
High stiffness leads to reduced penetration and increasing accuracy.
But higher contact stiffness can also lead to ill-conditioning and divergence.
Poor Convergence; many

bisections, 122 iterations
Good Convergence due to

stiffness being reduced by user;
no bisections, 30 iterations

Contact Stiffness Factor: Tips
For bulk-dominated problems, start with the default

of 1.
For bending (thin structures) problems, start with
0.01 0.1.
For contacts with difficulty converging, lower the
stiffness
For pretension problems, use a stiffness factor
greater than one, because penetration can strongly
influence the pretension forces.
Set Update Stiffness to a frequency of
Each Iteration (Default in WB Mechanical)
When there is difficulty converging due to high
penetration, increase the stiffness.

Overlapping Contact and Boundary
Conditions
Care should be taken when
contact pair overlap with
constraint type boundary
conditions
MPC should be avoided and
a warning may be issued
Contact Trimming, Pinball
on Remote BCs, and nodal
based BCs can be used to
avoid this situation Contact shares an edge with a
Fixed Support

Section 3: : Dealing With Non Convergence

Diagnostic Tool: Contact Result Tracker
Provides contact information

during solution.
The trends observed can help

diagnose problems.
For instance, a decreasing

number of contact points
indicate a loss of contact

Making Use of Partial Solutions
When a Solution fails to fully converge, reviewing results at the

converged substeps can still be post-processed. This can be very helpful
to diagnose the issue.
Failed Partial
Solution
Converged Steps
able to be post-
processed
The contact status is a useful sanity check for understanding the

global behavior and finding problem areas.

Contact Results Tool: Penetration
Ensure the penetration is
small relative to local
displacements.
Ways to reduce
penetration:
Increase the stiffness
Reduce the penetration
tolerance
Try the Pure Lagrange
formulation.

Diagnostic Tool: NR Residuals
For a failed solution, requesting Newton-

Raphson residuals helps identify possible
areas where changes are needed.
If Solution Fails to Converge, NR Residual

Force Objects are Populated in the Tree

Checklist for Overcoming Convergence
Difficulties
Identify the problematic contact region(s) using:
Contact tracking
Contact results (e.g. status, penetration)
Force convergence plots
NR residuals
Once identified, possible remedies:
Check Mesh Quality.
Make sure model units are on an appropriate scale
Adjust the Contact Stiffness
Check for proper initial conditions/pinball.
Change to nodal detection if the problem is at a corner.
Reduce the time step size before and during the onset of the divergence.
If large friction coefficient is defined(>.25) consider using unsymmetric
solver
If immediately diverges based on poor initial contact conditions(not well
engaged or rigid body motion) try using aggressive contact stiffness
update
Last resort: Add stabilization(contact or global)

Section 4: Whats new in R15 Contact
Technology
Mechanical
New: Simplified Bolt Thread Modeling
Trim Contact enhancement
Bolt Pretension enhancement
MAPDL
New: Interface Wear Model
Miscellaneous

New: Simplified Bolt Thread Modeling
True thread Virtual Thread
Produces bolt thread stress profile without

meshing the threads
Contact normals computed internally
based on user-specified bolt parameters
Supports 3D and 2D-axisymmetric models
All contact types except bonded
Applicable for standard straight threads
Small strain & small rotation
Simple set-up
Improved efficiency
In this example:
True thread solves in 22167 seconds
Simplified thread solves in 9142
seconds

Bolt Thread Modeling
Build conventional surface-to-surface asymmetric
contact between cylindrical faces.
Define thread parameters in the details window:
Mean Pitch diameter
Thread Pitch distance
Thread angle
Starting/ending orientation axis points defaults
to the center of the top and bottom of scoped
cylindrical bolt body.

Bolt Thread Modeling
With sufficient mesh refinement, stress profiles match very closely

Mechanical: Bolt Pretension Incremental load
Increment - applies user defined offset as an
incremental sequential adjustment for challenging
bolted assemblies
Value gets added to the solved deformation from
the previous step
Is ramped on from previous step
Can follow Load, Adjustment or Open after LS1
Can be applied multiple times in sequence
Supports Restarts
If a solution restart is performed from a substep of a load step including an
Increment, the increment value gets added to the solved deformation
value at the beginning of the selected restart sub-step.

MADPL: Contact Surface Wear
Archard wear model:
Simulates the progressive loss of material from the contact surface.
Assumes rate of volume loss, , due to wear is proportional to the contact surface
pressure and relative sliding velocity at the contact surface. Wear is in direction
opposite to contact element normal.

=

where:
= wear coefficient
= material hardness = contact pressure

= pressure exponent = the relative sliding velocity
= velocity exponent
Contact nodes are moved to new positions. Contact variables (for example, contact
pressure) change. The underlying continuum elements also experience a loss in
material (and volume), thus simulating the wear.

Contact Surface Wear
Defined by TB and TBDATA commands:
Applicable to nonlinear contact only (frictional, frictionless and rough)
Asymmetric behavior recommended
Penalty based formulation recommended for convergence
Nodal detection necessary

Sliding block with frictional contact
No Wear Archard Wear

Brake Pad Model:

Contact Problems Model setup and
troubleshooting
- Contact modeling
- Tips on contact setup
- Dealing With Non Convergence

Modeling Contacts: Formulations and
Detection Method
Detect nodes which penetrate
and remove penetration But
how?
Contact Formulations
1. Penalty Method
2. Lagrange Method
3. Augmented Lagrange
4. MPC bonded contacts only
Detection Method
1. Integration points
2. Nodes
3. Projection Based
Modeling Contacts: Penalty Method
Penalize the nodes which

penetrate
Attach a stiff spring K Penalty

to the nodes
Stretch the spring by the

penetration distance
FPenalty
Penalty traction FPenalty
FPenalty = K Penalty pushes back the nodes to
reduce penetration
Modeling Contacts: Penalty Method Notes
Contacts using Penalty method always have residual
penetration after convergence - Residual Penetration can
be decreased by increasing the penalty stiffness.
ANSYS solver internally computes appropriate penalty
stiffness based on initial stiffness, stress - User can scale
up/down penalty stiffness.
High penalty stiffness factor leads to reduced penetration
and increasing accuracy but at a cost of
increasing number of equilibrium iterations contact chattering
divergence ill conditioning of the system equation
Tip: Update the penalty stiffness to allow the solver smartly
calculate the penalty stiffness must for nonlinear
problems
Modeling Contacts: Penalty Method Notes
100x increase in penalty results in small change in pressure/stress
d is result from FKN and equilibrium equation
Pressure=d *FKN => Contact stress on contact surface
100-times Difference with FKN leads to about 60-times Difference with d
but only leads to about 0.7% Difference with contact pressure and stress.
Penetration d=0,26e-3,P=43642 Penetration d=0,45e-5,P=43927
0.26e 3 43927
d = = 60 p = = 1.007
0.45e 5 43642
Penetration VS. Contact Pressure
Modeling Contacts: Normal Lagrange
Method
Goal: Reduce contact
penetration to zero
(contact constraint)

Detect penetrating nodes
Apply contact constraint to

the nodes
p
ANSYS Solver calculates the
contact surface traction p at the
=0 penetrating nodes to satisfy
constraint
contact constraint.
Method
Advantages:
No need to define contact stiffness
Accuracy - constraint is satisfied exactly, there are no matrix conditioning problems
Disadvantages:
Extra DOFs for each contact constraint
Zero diagonal terms- iterative solvers are not applicable
Chattering- sensitivity to the variation of contact status
Over constraints may appear
Symmetric contact, self contact, boundary conditions, MPC
F
K G u F
=
G T
0
Method Notes
Use Lagrange multiplier method if:
Penetration critical applications (accuracy)
Contact with predominant material nonlinearity
Contact between shells or thin layers
Large sliding problem: the convergence behavior is very good and stable
Contact at corners, edges
Suitable for solving Threaded connectors, press fit joints, seals, etc. In
which underlying stresses vary with contact stiffness
Convergence is still not achieved after several attempts by adjusting
contact stiffness

Method Notes
If the normal Lagrange method is used:
Always use asymmetric or auto asymmetric contact.
Do not use CP/CE in on contact surfaces
Do not define the multiple contact pairs, which share the common interfaces.
Do not define self-contact pair or symmetric pairs. Split contact surfaces and
define asymmetric contact pairs
Contact Target
Pair-1 Single pair

Contact
Pair-2 Contact
Contact Target
Target
Target
Modeling Contacts: Augmented Lagrange
Method
Why not take advantage of

easiness of Penalty method
and accuracy of Normal
Lagrange method?
Use a penalty surface

traction augmented with
FPenalty + p the surface traction
computed to resolve
traction = K Penalty + p contact constraint

Augmented Lagrange Method Notes
Robust and default method in ANSYS WB

Able to solve complex contact problems, producing a certain
level of penetration which is generally so small that the effect is
negligible and can be controlled
Residual penetration still present but lower than Penalty
method less sensitive to the penalty stiffness
Usually requires fewer number of equilibrium iterations relative
to the Normal Lagrange method, but more iterations than the
Penalty method
User still has the option to scale and update the penalty stiffness

Method Notes
Using default contact stiffness for most contact applications, unless:
0.01-0.1 for bending deformations
10 for critical bolt joint which is pre-tensioned
0.01x-0.1x when the calculated convergence norm is almost parallel to the
criterion, or the calculated convergence norm is oscillating.
10x, 100x if you have seen large penetration warnings many time
Aggressive options: remedy chattering or preventing rigid body motion
when initial contact conditions are not well posted.

Method Notes
Tip:
Use Augmented Lagrange if:
Symmetric contact or self-contact is used.
Multiple parts share the same contact zone
Mesh is relative coarse
3D large model(> 300.000 DOFs), use PCG solver.
Use Penalty method if:
Tough contact conditions: pairs overlap, non smoothing interfaces, multiple thin
layers, model with potential over-constraints
A contact pair used to apply fluid penetration pressure overlaps with other pairs
You want to get fast solution and are not interested in local contact results

Modeling Contacts: MPC Method
In Bonded/No-Separation
between nodes are
prevented in one or both
directions
Penalty based formulations

attach a very stiff spring to
prevent this (residual
relative motion is still
present)
MPC formulation ties the

Advantage: Requires one nodes at two surfaces
equilibrium iteration (linear) preventing no relative motion
in one or both directions
Modeling Contacts: MPC Method
MPC means: Multipoint Constraint

_T
=
uT | ureduced
T
uconstrained |
K rr K rc ur F
K K . _ = 0
cr cc uc
To connect dissimilar mesh regions
To connect the different element types

Modeling Contacts: MPC Method Notes
Target Normal, Couple U to ROT (default in WB-
Mechanical) is sufficient for most applications
Inside Pinball, Couple U to ROT allows contact
detection regardless of element normal direction
Beam Normal Direction

- This option is especially helpful for unique applications Shell elements
of connecting a line body edge with a shell or solid face
or edge
MPCs created with Default based on beam

element normal direction
Beam Normal Direction

Shell elements
Inside Pinball, Couple U to ROT option
properly creates CEs using nodes around
entire perimeter of shell edge, regardless of
beam element normal direction

Modeling Contacts: MPC Method Notes
Use MPC contact for bonded and no-separation contact as much as possible
unless overconstraints exist.
Run Over-constraint check via WB contact tool
Interface with small gap/penetration
It avoids spurious frequencies for modal analysis
Gaps are frequently encountered in CAD models
Seam Weld preparation
Suppressed auxiliary parts (e.g. seals)
Offsets of shell surfaces
Rather than modify the geometry to fill the gap, they can be accurately
ignored when using MPC Contact or a fixed joint.
Joints are recommended if convergence difficulties arise for large rotation
problems.

Contact Detection Methods
All contact formulations require the solver to identify the
elements where surface penetration has occurred
Detection Methods
1. Surface integration points (Gauss points)
2. Nodes
3. Surface Projection

Contact Detection Methods: Notes
Surface integration point method allow for additional points to detect
penetration between surfaces - Default method for Penalty and
Augmented Lagrange method.
Best for assemblies, true surface-to surface contact.
However it is poor when contact occurs at corners or edges.
Nodal based detection methods are default for MPC and Normal Lagrange
method.
For contacts at corners (such as interference fit problems, threaded connector
models), best results are obtained when either Nodal Normal to Target (or)
Normal for Contact.
Nodal Projected Normal From Contact
For true surface-surface contacts, it provides good results with minimal contact
pressure spikes at nodes
Convergence behavior is also better if mesh is adequately discretized at contact
surfaces.
For best performance, use similar mesh size for both contact and target surfaces.
Contact Detection Methods: Notes
Nodal Projected Normal From Contact
Always use Projection method for contact involving gasket layers so that stress
and strain distribution near contacting edges is more smooth.
Same rule is applied for FSI interface.
Avoid use the projected contact in conjunction with MPC bonded contact. It
causes increased bandwidth for the global equation set and leads to poor
performance.
For 3D higher order elements, use Normal Lagrange in conjunction with
projection based option for the best accuracy.
Unexpected spiky results
Using Projected contact Using Gauss detection

Contact Detection Methods: Example
Example of when to use Normal to target surface
Double beams in contact.
Gauss detection Normal to target

Asymmetric and Symmetric Contact
Behavior Target
Contact FPenalty
Target Contact
FPenalty
Penalty based methods apply In Symmetric contacts, an
penalty traction only to the addition step in each equilibrium
contact surface (Auto iteration is used to compute the
asymmetric contact - default) penalty tractions on the
formerly target surface
Behavior - Guidelines
Symmetric contacts
Lower residual penetration
Lower number of equilibrium iterations but require more computational
time to calculate surface tractions on both surfaces
Less sensitive to mesh sizing at contact interface
Choose asymmetric contacts when the difference in stiffness (elastic modulus)
between both surfaces are > 10.
Stiff surface Target, Compliant surface Contact
Normal Lagrange and MPC methods requires Asymmetric contact where
contact traction is calculated only on the contact surface
Tip: In most cases, use auto-asymmetric contact program makes decision
Projected contact is not sensitive to the designation. However pick the refiner
surface as the contact for the best performance.

Behavior
Some times, It is also important to classify the possible contact configuration,
which surface or point will be in contact with which surface. The way to
define the contact or target can influence the convergence behavior.
Target
Contact
Contact
Target

Contact Pinball
ANSYS solver internally categorizes
the state of contact as: Far field,
Near field, Touching
Category is based on if the distance
between contact and target surface
is lesser (or) greater than pinball
radius
For interference problems, ensure
that the pinball radius is greater
than the maximum interference
In bonded contact and no-
separation contacts, any region
between the surfaces which
touches or lies within pinball radius
will be assumed to be in contact
Contact Pinball - Notes
Pinball radius
This is one of the most important parameters to get the desired contact
result
Effective PINB : measure the largest gap in your model via Initial Contact
Tool, then specify PINB a little bit larger than the gap, e.g if the largest gap
is X, use PINB=X+X/10.
Usually, you can use large PINB to run the analysis. The contact search
time will increase.
If you introduce a large pinball, you will have risks to introduce the spurious
region.
FE model Contact status Deformation

Interface Treatment: Adjust to touch
Mesh discretization can create
artificial gaps between surfaces
even though the CAD surfaces
gap touch each other
Adjust to touch option will

remove the gap and assume the
surfaces touch each other
Physically moving contact nodes

towards target surface is not
directly exposed in Mechanical,
but can be manually defined via
CNCH,ADJU in a command
object.
Interface Treatment: Add offset
with/without ramped effects
Press-fit and Threaded
connector problems have their
initial surfaces penetrating
Challenge resolve the initial
interference
Use Add offset options
Ramped effects for large
interferences (hint: do not apply
any other load)
No Ramped effects for small
interferences
An Alternative: defined offset
in tabular format via time
Interference Fit - Notes
Use nodal detection methods

Normal to target: if the target surface is smoother
Normal from contact: if the contact surface is smoother
User defined normal: if both sides are not smooth
Use Normal Lagrange method
Enough Pinball radius to capture initial over-closure
Death-Birth of contact elements whose surface normal is nearly
perpendicular to the direction of the press fit
Define contact elements only at crests and roots

Not at sides. Including all sides may cause undesirable locking.

Contact Stabilization Damping
What about applications where the gap is non-negligible (its too large to be
ignored).
- For such situations, Contact Stabilization Damping can be used to introduce a
viscous damping traction proportional to but opposite to the relative pseudo
velocities between the two surfaces along contact normal and/or tangential
directions.
Fn
Ft
Pdn = d n un
Pd 1 = d t u1
Contact
Pd1,d2
Pd 2 = d t u2
Target
Pdn
Where: d n = damping coefficient in normal direction
d t = damping coefficient in tangential direction
= pseudo velocity
u
Stabilization Damping Factor is applied in the

contact normal and it is valid only for nonlinear
contact (frictionless, rough and frictional
contacts).
If its value is greater than 0, the damping is
activated for all load steps.
Additional controls are available via KEYOPT(15) in
a command object.
Tangential damping factor is not directly exposed
in Mechanical, but can be manually defined via
RMODIF in a command object.

Example: Consider a fixed pin interfacing with a hole in plate with initial radial
clearance and under a force based load
Stabilization captures localized stress distribution more accurately then Adjust to Touch
Conventional Adjust to Touch Contact Stabilization Damping

Modeling Contacts: Robust Defaults
Robust defaults that solve the

largest variety of contact
situations is our goal
In general the Program

Controlled settings in
Mechanical match the MAPDL
solver defaults.
Exceptions include Behavior

(auto-asymmetric) and Update
Stiffness (update each iteration)

Solver Settings Decoded
1) Weak Springs
Always turn it off, unless it is really
needed for prevent rigid body motion.
Adding displacement constraints is the
right way.
When weak springs are used, carefully
verify the reaction forces
2) Large Deflection
Always turn it on, unless the model is
truly for small strains, small
deformations, small rotations, small
sliding.
F 3) Stabilization
Required for unstable problems
Perform stringent checks on the results
when stabilization is used
Tips on Model Set Up
ANSYS provides many tools in helping users to monitor nonlinear analyses as

well as diagnose any problems.
Oftentimes, it may be better to start simple and add complexity as you go,
so that sources of problems can be isolated more readily. Adding lots of
complexity to the first analysis can result in wasted time down the road.
Do not randomly change settings. Use the program control settings first,
then change contact or solver settings only if there is clear reason to do so,
as illustrated in the Solver Output, Results Tracker, or Newton-Raphson
Residuals.
When your FE model is large, you do not have means to try error and trial
many times. You should always use initial contact tools and your expertise to
setup and query the model before starting.

Check mesh quality
Poor mesh quality in solid elements Poor
can cause convergence problems. Mesh
Quality
A difficult contact problem may be
on
diverging simply because of the mesh
Contact
Tip: Use aggressive shape checking Surface
for nonlinear contact problems.
Better
Mesh
Quality

Check modeling Unites

Always verify the model units. Bad units can results in inaccurate solution
and bad convergence due to tolerance, precision, and numerical round off
issues.
When the tolerance on residual force is not satisfied because the contact
length is too small you will see this warning in output:
Warning: Min. contact depth 5.376e-6 is too small which can cause
accuracy problem, you may scale the length unit in the model.
Or if tolerance on residual force is not satisfied because the elastic moduli
or force/mass quantities too big you will see this warning in output:
Warning: Max. contact stiffness 1.21e16 is too big which can cause
accuracy problem, you may scale the force unit in the model.
Tip: Select mm-N units for the most contact models.

Check geometry
Verify contact and target surfaces assignment. Flip contact and target
surface if necessary.
Ensure that the target and contact surface definitions extend far enough to
cover the full expected range of motion for the analysis.
Be sure to adequately discretize underlying elements. Coarse discretization
can cause convergence difficulties.
Use similar mesh sizes for contact and target surfaces to gain the best
accuracy and convergence.

Tips on Model Set Up: Initial Contact Tool
Use the Initial Contact Tool to quickly learn about contact
status before solving.
Inserted under Connection Folder
Information reported which pairs are open/closed,
how much initial penetration, inactive pairs, etc.
Color coding to help user identify possible issues
Contour results such as status and Penetration can
be calculated

Tips on Model Set Up: Contact Tool
Contact Tool:
The contact tool

can also provide
visual contour
plots of the initial
contact status of
the various bodies
in an assembly

Tips on Model Set Up: Worksheet
The worksheet view is a great way to review all of the contact settings
Rows can be sorted
Column Visibility can be
by clicking on column
controlled via RMB
header

Check contact settings via worksheet and contact tool
Always verify all Contact/Target surfaces and contact settings to ensure that Contact
Regions are defined as expected. Review the detailed initial contact results in the
contact tool to verify the initial contact status of Contact Regions and what value of
the penetration or gap is, if present.
Ensure that the appropriate surface pairs are initially in contact via the contact tool.
If the initial penetration is too large, use Ramped option. You can solve initial
interference over several sub-steps.
Verify pinball. If the resulting penetration/gap is large, use a larger pinball. If the
resulting penetration is unreal, use smaller pinball to prevent spurious contact.
If necessary use just in touch to close small gap or apply contact damping to
prevent rigid body motions.
Use MPC option for bonded and no-separation contact pair if possible.
Identify potential overconstraints . Modify model to manually remove
overconstraints.

Set proper Sub-step size

Linear elastic and small deflection NLGEO,OFF
Generally speaking, in this case you do not need more than one substep to run the
analysis. It is usually better to put the 100% load in one substep, because, the less
the load, the smaller will be the contact area, and the small contact area usually
make the problem unstable, so one can see the oscillating in convergence norm.
Linear elastic and large deflection NLGEO,ON
For bulky problem, you should try to use only one substep to run the analysis. The
unstable solution during the equilibrium iterations can be stabilized via aggressive
contact stiffness updating or contact damping.
For thin structure, you should be careful with the substeps, because the stress
stiffening effect can largely change the structure behavior, and the contact region
also changes rapidly during the large rotation. Use multiple substeps to do the
analysis. To prevent large deformation due to spring-back, use time step control
option (based on contact status change ) or global stabilization.

Set proper Sub-step size

Always use AUTO time stepping scheme, let program think
Friction is present
Since friction has path dependent nature, you should use multiple substep
(e.g.>5) to run the analysis.
Plasticity is present
Plasticity also has path dependent nature, you should use multiple substep
say (e.g.5) to run the analysis.
Large rotation and finite deformation
You should use small rotation increment e.g. < 10 degree for substep
Large rotation for rigid body
You can use large increment in general.
Debug strategies: Results Tracker
Use solution tracking to identify
contact chattering
Identify when and how contact occurs.
Determine the regions where contact is
unstable and then focus on the specific
settings of those particular pairs instead of
having to deal with all of them.

Debug strategies: Study Output
When troubleshooting contact problems, notes, warnings,

errors in the output file often provide valuable feedback:
Warning: The initial penetration/gap is relatively large. Using bonded/no

separation option may cause an accuracy issue. You may use the
CNCHECK,ADJUST command to move the contact nodes towards the target
surface.
Warning: The closed gap/penetration may be too large. Increase pinball if
it is a true closed gap/penetration. Decrease pinball if it is a false one.
Warning: Convergence has been achieved in spite of large penetration. If
this message is repeated frequently, we recommend either increasing
penalty stiffness(FKN), or enlarge penetration tolerance(FTOLN).

Debug strategies
Failure to achieve force equilibrium

Friction in the model
Unconstrained rigid body motion indicated by the presence of
very large displacement corrections.
Overconstraints usually indicated by zero pivot/negative warning
messages.
Buckling indicated by the load-displacement curve reaching a load
maximum
Use the output to determine which problem you have!! The
recommended corrective actions are different for each problem.

Debug strategies
Friction in the model

Use frictionless contact or rough contact to see
any help
If the difficulty is indeed due to friction, then consider the
following:
Use the unsymmetric solver (NROP,unsym ) for curved target
surface even if the coefficient of friction is small.
Re-examine the choice of the friction coefficient.
Loose slip tolerance (better than to use a smaller tangent stiffness).
Refine the mesh so that more points come into contact at the same
time.

Debug strategies: Rigid-Body Motion
Sometime, the parts in a contact model is not uniquely constrained, It means some parts
can move without producing any elastic deformation- Rigid Body Motion. This rigid body
motion is unfortunately not allowed in a static analysis. Usually, there are 3 types of rigid
body motion
The parts are not in contact(gap) -- Fig. a)
The initial penetration is too high, this will leads to a very high contact force -- Fig. b
Friction force is too small comparing the external force -- Fig. c
F
F F
F
<F
a b c

How to avoid the rigid body motion?
Use specified displacement, if possible, in stead of force.
This technique uses imposed

F U displacements to move the body
and as result you get the reaction
force
Real problem FE model
Add a small friction to avoid the numeric instability
FE Model Without friction

Tip: Constrain rotational DOFs for structure elements
Use contact damping to avoid the numeric noise.
F The damping effects should be negligible compared to the stiffness of

the system.
Do a slow dynamic analysis to introduce the inertial force.
You will need to add mass and damping

F F in order to convert the solution from a
static to a dynamic solution. This is
known as a quasi-static solution.
FE Model Static

Debug strategies: Overconstraints
Overconstrained model
Overconstraints are indicated by the presence of zero pivot
warnings. It often results in very large residual force (orders of
magnitude larger than a typically applied force) followed by very
easy convergence.
First check potential overconstraints via Contact Tool
Tips for manually removing overconstraints
Remove overlapped pairs
Merge pairs
Flip contact and target surfaces
Add multiple layers

Debug strategies: Overconstraints
The assembly is connected with MPC contacts
Contact status
In these regions Parts are
not correctly connected
2 elements in sweep direction
Contact status
90
90
2013 ANSYS, Inc. December 16, 2014 ANSYS Confidential
Procedure for Overcoming Convergence
Difficulties
Identify the problematic Once identified, possible remedies:
contact region(s) using: Check Mesh Quality.
Make sure model units are on an appropriate
Contact tracking scale
Contact results (e.g. Adjust the Contact Stiffness
status, penetration) Check for proper initial conditions/pinball.
Change to nodal detection if the problem is
Force convergence plots at a corner.
NR residuals Reduce the time step size before and during
the onset of the divergence.
Outputs
If large friction coefficient is defined(>.20)
consider using unsymmetric solver
Last resort: Add stabilization(contact or
global)

Debug strategies: Check non contact-
related issues
Unrealistic physical model
Unreasonable loading and boundary conditions.
Insufficient constraints, missing rotation constraints
Overconstraints
Loading condition: Step vs. ramped (KBC)
Element formulation: Hourglass and locking, U/P, joints
Material constitutive Large plastic deformation, creep,
incompressible or near incompressible
Unreasonable or incorrect material properties and inconsistent
units
Local & global instabilities
Follower loads, Link Elements
Debug strategies: Check non contact-
related issues
If above steps still dont provide enough information on what
the problem is, there are other things that can be done:
Turn on large deflection.
Turn off weak springs.
Use SPARE direct solver instead of PCG iterative solver.
Turn off prediction
Use single process instead of multiple processes.
Solve problem using transient option.
If none of above tricks works, call ANSYS experts for technical
supports.

Whats New at R16 in Contact
General Contact
Robustness improvement for contact modeling
Wear modeling with automatic adaptivity
CZM unification

2014 SD Mechanical Contact Best Practices PDF

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Workbench Mechanical Contact Best

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With typical structural problems, the presence of

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Gap > Tolerance

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Multiple Connection Folders Can Be Used

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RMB Go To options to find Connections

Use Tags To Keep Track of

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Contact desired to occur on the F

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Robust defaults that solve

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Poor mesh quality in solid elements Poor

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On curved surfaces, or surfaces

Better set elements with similar

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Augmented Lagrange (Default): Suitable

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MPC is a true linear contact for small-deflection

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After the solution is done

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Poor Convergence; many

Good Convergence due to

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For bulk-dominated problems, start with the default

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Provides contact information

The trends observed can help

For instance, a decreasing

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When a Solution fails to fully converge, reviewing results at the

The contact status is a useful sanity check for understanding the

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For a failed solution, requesting Newton-

If Solution Fails to Converge, NR Residual

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Produces bolt thread stress profile without

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No Wear Archard Wear

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