There are various connections methods are used in FE software’s to connect two different bodies such as contacts, mesh connection, beam, weld, spring & joints, etc. The joints are simplest way to form connection between mating components.
Contacts:
When two separate surface (bodies) touch each other such that they became mutually tangent then they are said to be in “Contact”.
Types of Contacts:
There are two major types of contacts are used to define the connection between the mating components; the first is Linear and second is nonlinear contact. These contacts definitions are available in all commercial FEA software’s such as ANSYS, Abaqus, Nastran, Solid work, etc. In this blog, we will going to present the contact definitions used in ANSYS software. The below chart shows the types of contacts used to define connection between various mating components.