Contact Reactions

Contact Reactions allow you to do Contact force and moment summation.

To access Contact Reactions, right-click on the Contacts in the analysis tree and select Contact Reactions.

• Type: Two options, Force and Moment are available for single point constraint to calculate the reaction forces and moment, respectively.
  • Force: When the type is Force, this dialog gives you the TOTAL, TX, TY, and TZ contact force summation for the selected entities.
  • Moment: When the type is Moment, this dialog gives you the TOTAL, MX, MY, and MZ contact force summation for the selected entities. Additionally, the Reference Grid Point option becomes available (see next bullet).
• Reference Grid Point: Optionally, specify a node number to serve as the basis of the Contact Moment results (not applicable to the Force option). You cannot select the node graphically. However, you can create a node group and graphically select the desired node to determine the node identification number prior to accessing the Contact Reactions dialog.

  When this option is left unchecked, the global Origin is the reference point for moment results.

• Selected Entities: By default, the primary entity is selected and the results are summation results are provided accordingly. Users can change to the secondary entity and add/remove entities from the list in the box below.

  You can select Edges, Vertices, and Faces for which to sum contact forces or moments. Right-click in this box to filter your selection by choosing the types of entities to select using the context menu options. Additional context menu commands include the following:

  • Delete: Remove highlighted entities from the list.
  • Clear All: Remove all entities from the list.
  • Face Chain: Enable this option to select all faces that are tangent to the clicked face. The selection continues to propagate until edges with no adjacent tangent face are reached.
• Subcase: This drop-down menu allows you to pick a subcase for which to obtain Contact Force/Moment summation.
• Display: The Display section includes the following buttons (Active only for Contact Force results):
  • Contour: To display contour plot of the Contact Force Summation results.
  • Animate: To animate a contour plot of the Contact Force Summation results.
  • Vector: To display a vector plot of the Contact Force Summation results.