*CONTACT FORMULATION

Specify a nondefault contact formulation for the general contact algorithm.

This option is used to modify the contact formulation for specific contact interactions within the domain considered by general contact. It must be used in conjunction with the CONTACT option.

This page discusses:

See Also
*CONTACT
In Other Guides
Contact Controls Specific to General Contact in Abaqus/Standard
Contact Formulation for General Contact in Abaqus/Explicit

ProductsAbaqus/StandardAbaqus/ExplicitAbaqus/CAE

TypeModel data in Abaqus/Standard; Model or history data in Abaqus/Explicit

LevelModel in Abaqus/Standard; Model or Step in Abaqus/Explicit

Abaqus/CAEInteraction module

Required parameters

TYPE

Set TYPE=EDGE TO EDGE to control the edge-to-edge (beam-to-beam) contact formulations used in Abaqus/Standard. This setting does not apply for Abaqus/Explicit.

Set TYPE=MAIN SECONDARY ROLES to control main-secondary roles for specific interactions in Abaqus/Standard. This setting does not apply for Abaqus/Explicit.

Set TYPE=PURE MAIN-SECONDARY to specify that a contact interaction should use pure main-secondary weighting for specific node-to-face contact surface pairs in Abaqus/Explicit. This setting does not apply for Abaqus/Standard.

Set TYPE=POLARITY to choose which sides of double-sided elements will be considered for node-to-face or Eulerian-Lagrangian contact with another surface in Abaqus/Explicit. This setting does not apply for Abaqus/Standard.

Set TYPE=SLIDING TRANSITION to control the smoothness of the surface-to-surface formulation upon sliding for specific interactions in Abaqus/Standard. This setting does not apply for Abaqus/Explicit.

Set TYPE=SLIDING FORMULATION to activate the small-sliding tracking approach for specific interactions in Abaqus/Standard. This setting does not apply for Abaqus/Explicit.

Optional parameters

FORMULATION

This parameter applies only if TYPE=EDGE TO EDGE. It is used to activate the contact formulations to be used globally for edge-to-edge (beam-to-beam) contact.

Set FORMULATION=CROSS to activate an edge-to-edge contact formulation applicable to nonparallel beams that bases the contact normal direction on the cross product of the respective beam axial directions.

Set FORMULATION=RADIAL to activate an edge-to-edge contact formulation applicable to nearly parallel beams that bases the contact normal direction on a beam radial direction.

Set FORMULATION=BOTH to activate both edge-to-edge contact formulations.

Set FORMULATION=NO (default) to deactivate edge-to-edge contact formulations.

Data lines to control main-secondary roles for contact interactions in Abaqus/Standard

First line

  1. The name of the first surface. If the first surface name is omitted, a default surface that encompasses the entire contact domain is assumed.

  2. The name of the second surface.

  3. The word BALANCED, the word SECONDARY, or the word MAIN. A balanced main-secondary formulation is used if BALANCED is specified; otherwise, a pure main-secondary formulation is used with SECONDARY or MAIN indicating the desired behavior of the first surface.

Repeat this data line as often as necessary. Specifying named XFEM-based crack surfaces on the data lines is not currently supported.

Data lines to assign pure main-secondary roles to contact interactions in Abaqus/Explicit

First line

  1. The name of the first surface. If the first surface name is omitted, a default surface that encompasses the entire contact domain is assumed.

  2. The name of the second surface.

  3. The word SECONDARY (default) or the word MAIN. This entry refers to the desired behavior of the first surface.

Repeat this data line as often as necessary.

Data lines to assign polarity to contact interactions in Abaqus/Explicit

First line

  1. The name of the first surface. If the first surface name is omitted, a default surface that encompasses the entire contact domain is assumed.

  2. The name of the second surface.

  3. The label SPOS , the label SNEG, the label TWO SIDED, or blank (the polarity of each face in the second surface will be defined according to the side label given in the surface definition). This entry refers to the sides of the (double-sided) elements in the second surface that will be considered for node-to-face or Eulerian-Lagrangian contact with the first surface.

Repeat this data line as often as necessary.

Data lines to control the smoothness of the surface-to-surface formulation upon sliding for contact interactions in Abaqus/Standard

First line

  1. The name of the first surface. If the first surface name is omitted, a default surface that encompasses the entire contact domain is assumed.

  2. The name of the second surface.

  3. The words ELEMENT ORDER SMOOTHING (default), the words LINEAR SMOOTHING, or the words QUADRATIC SMOOTHING.

Repeat this data line as often as necessary.

Data lines to specify the small-sliding tracking approach for contact interactions in Abaqus/Standard

First line

  1. The name of the first surface. If the first surface name is omitted, a default surface that encompasses the entire contact domain is assumed.

  2. The name of the second surface.

  3. The words SMALL SLIDING to specify the small-sliding tracking approach or a blank entry to specify the default behavior, which is the finite-sliding tracking approach. Edges and vertices are deactivated for interactions with the small-sliding tracking approach.

Repeat this data line as often as necessary.

There are no data lines to control the edge-to-edge (beam-to-beam) contact formulations in Abaqus/Standard