Contact Stabilization

Contact stabilization adds a small stiffness to qualified areas before they come into contact. The contact stabilization algorithm can resolve under-constrained conditions.

The solver can resolve instability issues encountered at the start of the solution before contact is initiated. By default, the software always applies contact stabilization to geometries that have an initial clearance within a threshold value of 1% of the model's characteristic length.

You can customize the clearance between entities to qualify them for contact stabilization. The option Stabilize the area if the gap is value % of characteristic length is available from:
  • Default Options > Interactions (global-level)
  • Component Interactions PropertyManager (component-level)
  • Local Interactions PropertyManager (local-level)

For example, for the two bodies that come into contact as shown in the image below areas within the green frame qualify for contact stabilization because their clearance is within the gap threshold (x). Areas inside the red frame do not qualify for contact stabilization because they are either interfering, or their clearance exceeds the gap threshold.