New, easy-to-use linear contact analysis capabilities are now available including bonded, welded, free/no contact, surface contact and edge contact. This new contact technology is ideal for use on models created in the wide range of leading CAD solid modelers ALGOR supports, including Alibre Design, Autodesk Inventor, CADKEY, Mechanical Desktop, Pro/ENGINEER, Rhinoceros, Solid Edge and SolidWorks.

The surface contact option is used to simulate contact between the surface area where parts touch and the edge contact option is used to simulate contact between edges and where those edges touch other parts. For both contact options, the software automatically calculates the necessary contact parameters so that no additional data input is required.

The new surface and edge contact capabilities also allow for the consideration of static friction effects by simply specifying a static friction coefficient or by using the default.

"The new contact capabilities not only make it easy for engineers to specify contact between different parts of an assembly, but also give engineers the flexibility to choose from a variety of common contact types," said ALGOR product manager, Bob Williams. "With the unique edge contact options and the ability to consider static friction effects, a wide range of contact scenarios are supported within FEMPRO, ALGOR's complete finite element modeling, results evaluation and presentation interface."

The new contact capabilities are made possible by new and improved mesh matching technology and all-new right-click menus and dialogs in ALGOR’s FEMPRO interface. The user simply sets the default contact type for the entire assembly through the contact branch of the tree view. Optional contact pairs between specific parts and/or surfaces can be interactively specified through the graphics window or tree view. The user then decides whether to include friction effects. After an analysis, FEMPRO’s Superview IV Results environment provides the capability to inquire on the total force transmitted between the contacting surfaces and edges.

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