Automatic contacts in the Simulation workspace

Automatic contacts are detected during both the simulation and meshing processes. You do not have to take direct action to detect contact. Automatic contact sets are generated automatically based on the default contact type (bonded) and default parameters.

Applies to:
Thermal stress study	Static stress study
Modal frequencies study	Structural buckling study
Shape optimization study	Nonlinear static stress study
Thermal study

You can edit automatic contacts at any time after you create them. You can also suppress automatic contacts, but you cannot delete them.

Automatic contact set definition

Each automatically generated contact set is defined as follows:

• Contact Type = Bonded
• Penetration Type = Symmetric

Automatic contact set criteria

Automatic contact sets are generated wherever the faces or edges satisfy the following two criteria:

• The distance between the entities does not exceed the Contact Detection Tolerance you defined in the Automatic Contacts dialog.
• The entities are parallel within a 15 degrees tolerance. This parameter is fixed and is not customizable.

Automatic contact set generation

Automatic contacts are generated at the following three times:

• When you click Automatic Contacts, contacts are generated or updated.
• When you click Generate Mesh, contacts and meshes are generated or updated.
• When you click Solve, contacts, meshes, and results are generated or updated.

Prior contact settings are not lost when the Automatic Contacts routine is rerun. The settings are retained for any contact that you create manually and any automatically generated contact sets that you edit.

Important: You must define self-contact within a single part manually. Automatic Contacts and Solver Contacts only detect contact between two different bodies.