Contact3D

3D Node(Slave)-Triangular Facet(Master) Contact Element

• Number of DoFs: 3

• DoF Label: U1, U2, U3

Syntax

element Contact3D (1) (2) (3) [4]
# (1) int, unique element tag
# (2) int, master group tag
# (3) int, slave group tag
# [4] double, penalty factor

Remarks

1. The contact algorithm is implemented via penalty function method as an element. The parameter [4] controls the magnitude of penalty.

2. No matter whether the nlgeom switch is on or off for connected elements, the contact detection itself is always conducted in a nonlinear manner, similar to the total Lagrangian formulation for the precise computation of contact.

3. The node-facet contact detection is performed for all nodes defined in slave group and facets defined by nodes in master group. There are $n/3$ facets for $n$ nodes in master group. So the number of nodes in master group must be multiples of $3$.