Contacts

Overview
Using contacts, you can go beyond just modeling how parts meet at points and model how solid bodies
react when they come in contact with one another when the model is in motion.
For more on the theory behind contact forces, see the CONTACT statement in the Adams/Solver online
help.
See Solver Settings - Contacts dialog box help.

About Contact Forces

Contacts allow you to model how free-moving bodies interact with one another when they collide during
a simulation.
Contacts are grouped into two categories:
• Two-dimensional contacts, which include the interaction between planar geometric elements (for
example, circle, curve, and point)
• Three-dimensional contacts, which include the interaction between solid geometry (for example,
spheres, cylinders, enclosed shells, extrusions, and revolutions).
You currently cannot model contact between a two-dimensional and a three-dimensional geometry,
except for sphere-to-plane contact.
For more on the theory behind contact forces, see the CONTACT statement in the Adams/Solver online
help.

Click here to see an Example of Using Contact Forces.

Contact Force Algorithms

Contact forces use two distinct normal force algorithms:
• Restitution-based contact
• IMPACT-Function-Based Contact

Note: Contact defined between planar geometry (for example, circle to curve) must be
constrained to lie in the same plane. You usually accomplish this using planar joints or an
equivalent set of Constraints that enforce the planarity.

Failure to enforce planarity will result in a run-time error when the bodies go out of plane
during a Simulation.
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Contacts

You can also create your own contact force model by entering parameters to a User-written subroutine.

Supported Geometry in Contacts

Two-Dimensional Contacts
Adams/View supports two-dimensional contact between the following geometry:
• Arc
• Circle
• Polylines
• Splines
• Point
• Plane

For flexible bodies, only point-to-plane and point-to-curve contacts are supported, where the point is on
the flexible body. Adams/Solver (C++) can treat multiple points per CONTACT statement.
Adams/Solver (FORTRAN) can only treat one point per CONTACT statement.

Note: You cannot have contacts between a point and another point and a plane and another plane.

Three-Dimensional Contacts
Adams/View supports three-dimensional contact between the following solid geometry:
• Sphere
• Cylinder
• Frustum
• Box
• Link
• Torus
• Extrusion
• Revolution
• Constructive, solid geometry (geometry combined from several geometries)
• Generic three-dimensional Parasolid geometry, including extrusion and revolution
• Shell (enclosed-volume only)

You can also create a contact between a three-dimensional elliposoid and a plane (sphere only).
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Contacts

In case of Adams/Solver C++, you can create three-dimensional contacts between flexible bodies as well
as between a flexible body and a Solid geometry. When a three-dimensional contact is created between
a flexible body and a solid geometry, it is mandatory that the rigid body is always the J geometry.
Adams/View also supports nonsolid, three-dimensional geometries, such as shells. Adams/View allows
you to select the free edges of shell elements. You can create contacts between flexible body edges as
well as between flexible body edge and a plane or a curve.

Creating/Modifying Contact Forces

To create or modify a contact force:

1. From the Force tool stack or palette, select the Contact Force tool .
The Create/Modify Contact dialog box appears.
2. Enter values in the dialog box as explained in the table below, and then select OK.

Tip: You can change the direction of the force on some geometry (for example, circle, curve,
plane, and sphere) by selecting the Change Direction tool .
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Contacts

To: Do the following:

Define type and geometry To define the geometry/flexible body that comes into contact:

1. Set Type to the type of geometry to come into contact. In case of

flexible bodies, you must either select the Flex Body To Flex Body
or Flex Body to Solid options. Flexible bodies can participate in
the contact only for Adams/Solver C++. In case of flex edge
contacts, select Flex Edge To Flex Edge or Flex Edge To Curve or
Flex Edge To Plane.
The text boxes change depending on the type of contact force you
selected.
2. In the text boxes, enter the name of the geometry or flexible body
objects. For solids and curves, you can enter more than one
geometry, but the geometry must belong to the same part. You can
select the objects from the screen or Database Navigator or type it
directly in the text box. If you type the geometry object name
directly in the text box, you must press Enter to register the value.
In case of "Flex Body to Solid" type of contacts, the rigid body
should always be the J geometry. Similarly in case of Flex Edge to
Curve or Plane type of contacts, Curve or Plane should always be
J geometries.
Tips on Entering Object Names in Text Boxes.
If you want to change the direction of the force, in the Direction
pull-down menu, select the geometry on which you want to change
the force, and then select the Change Direction tool . This
is disabled in case of "Flex Body to Flex Body" and "Flex Body to
Solid" contacts but is available in all the Flex Edge contacts.
Turn on the force display Select Force Display, and then from the option menu, select a color for
for both normal and the force display.
friction forces and set its
color Note: If you are using an External Adams/Solver, you must set the
output files to XML to view the force display. See Solver
Settings - Output dialog box help
Refine the normal force Select Augmented Lagrangian.
between two sets of rigid
geometries that are in When you select Augmented Lagrangian, Adams/View uses iterative
contact refinement to ensure that penetration between the geometries is minimal.
It also ensures that the normal force magnitude is relatively insensitive to
the penalty or stiffness used to model the local material compliance
effects.

Note: Augmented Lagrangian is only available when defining a

Restitution-based contact.
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Contacts

To: Do the following:

Define a restitution-based To define the normal force as restitution-based:
contact
1. Set Normal Force to Restitution.
2. Enter a penalty value to define the local stiffness properties
between the contacting material.
A large penalty value ensures that the penetration of one geometry
into another will be small. Large values, however, will cause
numerical integration difficulties. A value of 1E6 is appropriate
for systems modeled in Kg-mm-sec. For more information on how
to specify this value, see the Extended Definition for the
CONTACT statement in the Adams/Solver online help.
3. Enter the coefficient of restitution, which models the energy loss
during contact.
4. A value of zero specifies a perfectly plastic contact between the
two colliding bodies.
5. A value of one specifies a perfectly elastic contact. There is no
energy loss.
The coefficient of restitution is a function of the two materials that are
coming into contact. For information on material types versus commonly
used values of the coefficient of restitution, see the table for the
CONTACT statement in the Adams/Solver online help. Restitution based
contacts is not available when flexible bodies are participating in the
contact.
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Contacts

To: Do the following:

Define an impact contact To define the normal force as based on an impact using the IMPACT
function:

1. Set Normal Force to Impact.

2. Enter values for the following:
• Stiffness - Specifies a material stiffness that is to be used to
calculate the normal force for the impact model.
In general, the higher the stiffness, the more rigid or hard the
bodies in contact are.
Note: When changing the length units in Adams/View, stiffnesses in
contacts are scaled by (length conversion factor**exponent).
When changing the force unit, stiffness is only scaled by the
force conversion factor.
• Force Exponent - Adams/Solver models normal force as a
nonlinear springdamper. If the damping penetration, above, is
the instantaneous penetration between the contacting
geometry, Adams/Solver calculates the contribution of the
material stiffness to the instantaneous normal forces as:
STIFFNESS * (PENALTY)**EXPONENT
For more information, see the IMPACT function in the
Adams/Solver online help.
• Damping - Enter a value to define the damping properties of
the contacting material. A good rule of thumb is that the
damping coefficient is about one percent of the stiffness
coefficient.
• Penetration Depth - Enter a value to define the penetration at
which Adams/Solver turns on full damping. Adams/Solver
uses a cubic STEP function to increase the damping coefficient
from zero, at zero penetration, to full damping when the
penetration reaches the damping penetration. A reasonable
value for this parameter is 0.01 mm. For more information,
refer to the IMPACT function in the Adams/Solver online help.
Define your own contact 1. Set Normal Force to User Defined.
model 2. Enter parameters to the user-defined subroutine. You can also
specify an alternative library and name for the user subroutine in
the Routine text box. Learn about ROUTINE Argument.
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Contacts

To: Do the following:

Model the friction effects 1. Set Friction Force to Coulomb.
at the contact locations 2. Set Coulomb Friction to On, Off, or Dynamics Only to define
using the Coulomb whether friction effects are to be included.
friction model
3. In the Static Coefficient text box, specify the coefficient of
Note: The friction friction at a contact point when the slip velocity is smaller than the
model models value for Static Transition Vel. For information on material types
dynamic friction versus commonly used values of the coefficient of static friction,
but not stiction. see Material Contact Properties Table.
For more on friction in Excessively large values of Static Coefficient can cause
contacts, see Contact integration difficulties.
Friction Force Calculation.
Range: Static Coefficient 0
In addition, read the
information for the 4. In the Dynamic Coefficient text box, specify the coefficient of
CONTACT statement in friction at a contact point when the slip velocity is larger than the
the Adams/Solver online value for Friction Transition Vel. For information on material
help. types versus commonly used values of the coefficient of the
dynamic coefficient of friction, see Material Contact Properties
Table.
Excessively large values of Dynamic Coefficient can cause
integration difficulties.
Range: 0 Dynamic Coefficient Static Coefficient
5. In the Static Transition Vel. text box, enter the static transition
velocity. Learn more about this value.
6. In the Friction Transition Vel. text box, enter the friction
transition velocity.
Adams/Solver gradually transitions the coefficient of friction from
the value for Static Coefficent to the value for Dynamic
Coefficient as the slip velocity at the contact point increases.
When the slip velocity is equal to the value specified for Friction
Transition Vel., the effective coefficient of friction is set to
Dynamic Coefficient.
Note: Small values for this option cause the integrator difficulties.
You should specify this value as:
Friction Transition Vel. 5* ERROR
where ERROR is the integration error used for the solution. Its
default value is 1E-3.
Range: Friction Transition Vel. Static Transition Vel. > 0
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Contacts

To: Do the following:

Model the friction effects 1. Set Friction Force to User Defined.
at the contact locations 2. Enter parameters to a user-defined subroutine, CNFSUB, and enter
using your own model the name of the routine.
3. In the Static Transition Vel. text box, enter the static transition
velocity.
Adams/Solver gradually transitions the coefficient of friction from
the value in Dynamic Coefficient to the value in Static Coefficent
as the slip velocity at the contact point decreases. When the slip
velocity is equal to the value you specify for Static Transition Vel.,
the effective coefficient of friction is set to the value in Static
Coefficient.
Range: 0 < Static Transition Vel. Friction Transition Vel
Note: A small value for Static Transition Vel. causes numerical
integrator difficulties. A general rule for specifying this value
is:
Static Transition Vel. ERROR
where ERROR is the accuracy requested of the integrator. Its
default value is 1E-3. See Solver Settings - Dynamic.

Simulation Results of Contact Forces

When you run a simulation, Adams/View automatically calculates specific attributes of contact forces.
The results appear in Adams/PostProcessor in plotting mode for objects.
For contact force:
• element_force
• element_torque

For tracks:
• Double-click a track to view:
• I_Point
• I_Normal_Force
• I_Friction_Force
• I_Normal_Unit_Vector
• I_Friction_Unit_Vector
• J_Point
• J_Normal_Force
• J_Friction_Force
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Contacts

• J_Normal_Unit_Vector
• J_Friction_Unit_Vector
• Slip_Deformation
• Slip_Velocity
• Penetration

Learning More about the Contact Detection Algorithm

To greatly simplify the contact detection algorithm, Adams/Solver assumes that the volume of
intersection between two solids will be much, much less than the volume of either solid. This means that,
for example for a sphere in a V-groove, the Adams/Solver algorithm breaks down when the two contact
volumes merge into one. This assumption is not as drastic as it may first appear. The reason is that most
users are interested in contact between rigid bodies (that is, bodies that do not undergo a large
deformation). Also, rigid bodies generally do not penetrate very far into one another. Note that we do not
recommend that you use the contact detection algorithm in the modeling of very soft bodies.
After contact occurs between two solids, Adams/Solver computes the volumes of intersection. There may
be only one volume of intersection, or there may be multiple volumes of intersection (this would
correspond to multiple locations of contact). In this discussion, we assume that there is only a single
volume of intersection. The algorithm is the same for every intersection volume.
Once there is contact, Adams/Solver finds the centroid of the intersection volume. This is the same as the
center of mass of the intersection volume (assuming the intersection volume has uniform density).
Next, Adams/Solver finds the closest point on each solid to the centroid. The distance between these two
points is the penetration depth.
Adams/Solver then puts this distance into the formula:

F = K*(distance)n
where:
• K - material stiffness
• n - exponent
• F - force

to determine the contact force due to the material stiffness (there can also be damping and friction forces
in the contact).
For example, if you apply this algorithm to a sphere on a plate, the intersection volume is some type of
spherical shape with a flat side. The centroid of this volume can be computed (this is where most of the
time is spent in the algorithm). It will be below the plate and inside the sphere. The nearest point on the
plate (to the centroid) and the nearest point on the sphere (to the centroid) can also be computed. In this
case, the line between them will pass through the center of the sphere (this will also be the direction in
which the contact force acts).
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Contacts

Again, the algorithm can handle the case of a sphere in a V-groove. There will be two volumes of
intersection and two separate forces will be applied to sphere and to the V-groove (equal and opposite
forces).

Contact Friction Force Calculation

Adams/Solver uses a relatively simple velocity-based friction model for contacts. Specifying the
frictional behavior is optional. The figure below shows how the coefficient of friction varies with slip
velocity.
Coefficient of Friction Varying with Slip Velocity
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Contacts

In this simple model:

Material Contact Properties Table

The table below shows material types and their commonly used values for the dynamic coefficient of
friction and restitution.

Material 1: Material 2: Mu static: Mu dynamic: Restitution Coefficient:

Dry steel Dry steel 0.70 0.57 0.80
Greasy steel Dry steel 0.23 0.16 0.90
Greasy steel Greasy steel 0.23 0.16 0.90
Dry aluminium Dry steel 0.70 0.50 0.85
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Contacts

Material 1: Material 2: Mu static: Mu dynamic: Restitution Coefficient:

Dry aluminium Greasy steel 0.23 0.16 0.85
Dry aluminium Dry aluminium 0.70 0.50 0.85
Greasy aluminium Dry steel 0.30 0.20 0.85
Greasy aluminium Greasy steel 0.23 0.16 0.85
Greasy aluminium Dry aluminium 0.30 0.20 0.85
Greasy aluminium Greasy aluminium 0.30 0.20 0.85
Acrylic Dry steel 0.20 0.15 0.70
Acrylic Greasy steel 0.20 0.15 0.70
Acrylic Dry aluminium 0.20 0.15 0.70
Acrylic Greasy aluminium 0.20 0.15 0.70
Acrylic Acrylic 0.20 0.15 0.70
Nylon Dry steel 0.10 0.06 0.70
Nylon Greasy steel 0.10 0.06 0.70
Nylon Dry aluminium 0.10 0.06 0.70
Nylon Greasy aluminium 0.10 0.06 0.70
Nylon Acrylic 0.10 0.06 0.65
Nylon Nylon 0.10 0.06 0.70
Dry rubber Dry Steel 0.80 0.76 0.95
Dry rubber Greasy steel 0.80 0.76 0.95
Dry rubber Dry aluminium 0.80 0.76 0.95
Dry rubber Greasy aluminium 0.80 0.76 0.95
Dry rubber Acrylic 0.80 0.76 0.95
Dry rubber Nylon 0.80 0.76 0.95
Dry rubber Dry rubber 0.80 0.76 0.95
Greasy rubber Dry steel 0.63 0.56 0.95
Greasy rubber Greasy steel 0.63 0.56 0.95
Greasy rubber Dry aluminium 0.63 0.56 0.95
Greasy rubber Greasy aluminium 0.63 0.56 0.95
Greasy rubber Acrylic 0.63 0.56 0.95
Greasy rubber Nylon 0.63 0.56 0.95
Greasy rubber Dry rubber 0.63 0.56 0.95
Greasy rubber Greasy rubber 0.63 0.56 0.95
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Contacts

References
The friction values used in the material interaction table are generalized values based on the following
references:
• Bowden & Tabor, "The Friction and Lubrication of Solids," Oxford.
• Fuller, "Theory and Practice of Lubrication for Engineers," Wiley.
• Ham & Crane, "Mechanics of Machinery," McGraw-Hill.
• Bevan, "Theory of Machines," Longmans.
• Shigley, "Mechanical Design," McGraw-Hill.
• Rabinowicz, "Friction and Wear of Materials," Wiley.