Use a static analysis with Contact Interfaces to model surfaces or components that may either separate from each other or move into contact with each other.

When you define a static analysis with contacts you can specify the extent to which the contacting surfaces can interpenetrate using the configuration option sim_contact_penetration. By default the allowable interpenetration is 5%.

In a contact analysis, the relation between the load applied to the model and the resulting deformations and stresses is not linear. The changes in contact area become nonlinear as the load increases, because the contact area depends on the deformation of the model.

A static analysis with contacts takes longer to run than linear static analysis because it is a non linear analysis. Creo Simulate calculates results in several iterative steps. The numerical iterations stop, when the analysis reaches convergence or Creo Simulate performs maximum number of iterations. The minimum number of iterations is 1 and the maximum number of iterations is 200 by default. Use the configuration option, sim_max_contact_iterations to specify the maximum number of iterations for contact analysis. Keep following points in mind when you increase the maximum number of iterations:

Sometimes contact analyses can have difficulties converging to the default tolerance. You can view the reported values of the residual norm in the Checkpoints tab of the Run Status dialog box (the .pas file). If these values are very small but do not reach the default value of 1.0 E-12, you can modify the tolerance of the residual energy norm used for contact convergence, using the configuration option sim_contact_tolerance_factor.

During a static analysis with contacts, Creo Simulate calculates the total contact area of all contacts in your model and the maximum contact pressure over all the contacts. Creo Simulate checks if slippage has occurred in the contact region. If you select the Create Slippage Indicators check box while defining the contact, slippage measures are calculated. These measures are rough indicators of slippage in the contact region. See Slippage Indicator Measures for more information about how Creo Simulate computes the slippage indicator measures.

See Contact Analyses in Design Studies for information on including contact analyses in different types of design studies.