Can general contact be used to simplify contact modeling?

General contact provides a streamlined and automated approach to defining interactions between surfaces in a model. Unlike traditional contact pairs, which require manual specification of individual interacting surfaces, General contact assumes that any surface can interact with any other surface within the defined contact domain. This makes it particularly useful for complex models with multiple potential contact interactions.

Key features of general contact include:

• Automatic identification and management of various contact types, such as surface-to-surface, edge-to-surface, and edge-to-edge interactions, reducing setup time significantly.
• Applicable to both rigid and deformable bodies, it is ideal for large assemblies or simulations requiring comprehensive contact detection.
• The all-inclusive contact domain simplifies the setup process by considering all external surfaces by default. Users can refine this by including or excluding specific surfaces to optimize performance.

Solver compatibility:

• In Abaqus/Standard, general contact is defined only in the initial step and remains active throughout the analysis.
• In Abaqus/Explicit, it can be applied at any step, offering more flexibility.
• While general contact simplifies the process, it may increase computational effort due to broader contact definitions. For models requiring precise control over specific interactions, traditional contact pairs may still be preferred. However, for most simulations, SIMULIA recommends using general contact due to its efficiency and adaptability.