How To Check Initial Contact Conditions Prior to Solving — Lesson 1

This video explores how to use the Contact Tool under the Connections branch prior to solving to check initial contact conditions and avoid costly rework time fixing contacts after a failed solve. 

For complex models involving many contact pairs, even if the contact pairs are all linear, a static solution still might fail if the initial contact conditions are not set up properly. Engineers need to be extra cautious when setting up the contacts between the parts, generating the desired mesh, setting up boundary conditions, applying loads and finally solving it.  And after solving such complex problems, what if it fails due to improper contacts with bodies having rigid body motion? Could that be avoided before investing computational time? Is there a way to check how the contacts are defined prior to solving?

Simulation Files

Download the accompanying geometry and archived files here. The student version of Ansys simulation software can be downloaded here.