Gap contact elements

Gap elements:

  • allow for contact between two nodes;

  • allow for the nodes to be in contact (gap closed) or separated (gap open) with respect to particular directions and separation conditions;

  • are always defined in three dimensions but can also be used in two-dimensional and axisymmetric models;

  • allow contact to be defined on any type of element, including substructures and user-defined elements;

  • can be used to model contact in fixed or rotating directions;

  • can be used to model node-to-node contact and thermal interactions in a fixed direction in space in coupled temperature-displacement simulations; and

  • can be used to model node-to-node thermal interactions in heat transfer analyses.

A general discussion of contact modeling in Abaqus/Standard can be found in Defining Contact Interactions.

The following topics are discussed:

Related Topics
Gap element library
In Other Guides
*GAP

ProductsAbaqus/Standard