Creating Weld Elements Using

Surface to Surface Contact Elements

1. Introduction

This document displays how to model, set up for static analysis, and analyze a model that is to simulate
weld using surface to surface contact elements, to connect dissimilar meshes. In this example, the
model consists of a block (cube) connected to a cylinder on one end and fully constrained at the other.
The cube and the cylinder are made of 7075-T651 Aluminum. The cube is 5 in. by 5 in. by 5 in., and the
cylinder has a radius of 1.5 in. and a length of 8 in. A force of 1000 lb. is applied to the free end of the
cylinder. The complete model is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Cube and Cylinder Model

2. Model Definition

2.1 Defining Material and Property

Define a material by choosing one that already exists in the FEMAP library. Go to Model – Material –
Load … and select the 7075-T651 Al Plate .25-.5, then click OK. The information will populate the form
as shown below in Figure 2.

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Figure 2. Isotropic Material Definition

Press ESC on the keyboard or the Cancel button on the form to get out of the form.

Define a property by selecting Model – Property. Title it Solid and then click on the Elem/Property
Type… button to change the element type to Solid, and click OK. Select from the pull down menu the
Material you already defined and click OK again to create the property (see Figure 3).

Figure 3. Solid Property Definition

Press ESC or Cancel to get out of the form.

2.2 Creating the Cube and the Cylinder

Now we need to create the model. Go to Geometry – Solid – Primitives and enter the data shown
below in Figure 4 to create a block of 5 x 5 x 5 in., then click OK.

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Figure 4. Solid Primitives – Cube

Go to Geometry – Solid – Primitives and enter the data shown below in Figure 5 to create the cylinder
with a radius of 1.5 in. and a length of 8 in., in the negative Z-direction, and then click OK.

Figure 5. Solid Primitives – Cylinder

The model should look like the one in Figure 6.

Figure 6. Solid Model

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Under Mesh – Mesh Control – Size Along Curve, select Method “on Solids” and then select the cube
(solid ID #1) and click OK. In the new form that pops up, Mesh Size Along Curves, enter 8 for Number
of Elements and click OK (see Figure 7).

Figure 7. Mesh Sizing the Cube

Similarly, put mesh seeds on the cylinder curves, Mesh – Mesh Control – Size Along Curve, select the
curves along the length (curves 13 and 14), click OK and enter 14 elements under Mesh Size Along
Curves window, then click OK. Next select the curves on the circumference (curves 15, 16, 17, and 18),
enter 12 elements, and click OK. See Figure 8 for details.

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Figure 8. Mesh Sizing the Cylinder

Press ESC or Cancel to get out of the form.

You can now mesh the solids in one operation with tet10 elements because you are going to use surface
to surface contact elements to connect dissimilar meshes. Go to Mesh – Geometry – Solids… and
click on Select All button to select both solids, and then click OK. When asked if it is OK to Update
Mesh Sizes? say NO to use the mesh size you already have on the solids (see Figure 9).
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Figure 9. Meshing the Solids

To clean up the view of the model in FEAMP press CTRL +Q and in the Quick View Options window
click on the All Entities Off button, select Element and click Done (see Figure 10). The model should
appear like the picture shown in Figure 11.

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Figure 10. Quick View Options

Figure 11. Solid Model with Mesh

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2.3 Creating the Contact Elements

In order to create the contact elements easily you should put the solid elements in two separate groups,
one for the cube and one for the cylinder. To do this, go to Group – Set and type in cube for ID #1, and
then click OK. Repeat the operation to create the second group, cylinder (make sure you have ID #2 for
this one). See details in Figure 12.

Figure 12. Create or Activate Groups

Next you have to put the elements in the proper group. Change the View using the View – Rotate –
Model command (or press F8) and click on YZ Right, and then OK.

Figure 13. View Rotate

Go to Group – Element – ID and box-pick all the elements in the cube (previously make sure that group
ID # 1 is active: click on the Grp: button on the bottom right hand side of the screen and select 1..cube,
then click OK) and click OK (see Figure 14).

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Figure 14. Entity Selection for Groups

To check that all the elements are in this group, right click on the screen and select Model Data. In the
new window under Group, click on the Select radio button and choose 1..cube, then press OK.

Figure 15. Select Model Data for View

Repeat the command but select None under Group so that you can see the entire model. You can now
select the elements that are in the cylinder and put them in the second group. Again, make sure you are
in the second group first: click on the Grp: button on the bottom right hand side of the screen and select
2..cylinder, and click OK.

Go to Group – Element – ID and box pick all the elements in the cylinder, then click OK. To check that
all the elements are in this group, right click on the screen and select Model Data. In the new window
under Group, click on the Select radio button and choose 2..cylinder, then press OK.

Go back to the first group (1..cube) and start creating the contact surfaces (you may need to rotate the
model so that you can see the surface that is in contact with the cylinder). Go to Model – Contact –
Segment/Surface…, give it a Title (cube) and select the radio button for Elements. Then click on the
Multiple… button to select the elements on the contact surface (see Figure 16 for details). Box-pick
random elements (more than just the elements on that face, or even all elements in that group) as the
next window will allow you to select elements that are on a certain face, based on tolerance.

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Figure 16. Contact Segment

In the Face Selection for Elemental Loads window click on the Adjacent Faces radio button, then put
the mouse inside the Face selection box and pick the face of an element that is on the contact surface
(see Figure 17). Then click OK, and OK again, and Cancel.

Figure 17. Face Selection for Elemental Loads

Go back to the second group (2..cylinder) and repeat the previous steps to select the elements on the
contact surface (you may need to rotate the model so that you can see the surface that is in contact with
the cube). Go to Model – Contact – Segment/Surface…, give it a Title (cylinder) and select the radio
button for Elements. Then click on the Multiple… button to select the elements on the contact surface.
Again, box-pick random elements (more than just the elements on that face, or even all elements in that
group) as the next window will allow you to select elements that are on a certain face, based on
tolerance.

Create a property for the contact surfaces by going to Model – Contact – Contact Property; give it a
Title (contact) and select NEiNastran on the form to assign property options for the NEiNastran solver,
where you select Symmetrical penetration option (see Figures 18 and 19 below). Then click OK and
OK again, and then Cancel out of the form.

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Figure 18. Define Property for the Contact Pair Element Type

Figure 19. NEiNastran Contact Property Options

Next define the contact pair: Model – Contact – Contact Pair, select the Property you just created
(2..contact), and select for Master the first segment (1..cube) and for Slave the second segment
(2..cylinder). Click OK and Cancel. The data should appear like in the figure below (Figure 20).

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Figure 20. Define Contact Pair Elements

To see the contact surfaces press CTRL+Q for the Quick View Options selection window and tick the
boxes for Contact, and then for Constraint and Force (which you are going to create next). Click on
Done. Make sure you have everything as shown in Figure 21. The contact should appear in yellow on
the cube (see Figure 22).

Figure 21. Quick View Options

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Figure 22. Model with Contact Surface

2.3 Creating the Constraints and Loads

Change the view to see the model in the YZ-Plane for easy picking of the nodes to apply the constraints
and the loads. Then go to Model – Constraints – Nodal, give a Title to this set (fixed), and then click
OK. When the Create Nodal Constraints/DOF dialog box appears, do a box-pick and select the nodes
at the free end of the cube, click OK, then click on the Fixed button, and OK again (see Figure 23).

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Figure 23. Creating the Constraints

To apply the 1000 lb. load, go to Model – Load – Nodal, give it a Title (force) and click OK. When the
dialog box appears do a box-pick and select the nodes at the free end of the cylinder and click OK. A
new window will appear where you will select Force as the type of load to be applied at the nodes, and
type for FY = 1000/213 (where 213 is the number of nodes selected, shown in the Messages and List
Windows at the bottom of the screen). Figure 24 has all the details.

Figure 24. Creating the Load

The model should look like the one shown in Figure 25.

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Figure 25. Model with Loads and Constraints

3. Analyzing the Model

It is recommended that the File – Export – Analysis Model menu be used to run the model. Select
1..Static for the Analysis Type. Give the model a name in a folder where it can be easily found. Make
sure you have the Run Analysis button ticked (see Figure 26). Click OK and when asked if it is OK to
Begin Solution? select YES, and the Editor will open. Go to Analysis – Run and the analysis will start.

Figure 26. Model with Loads and Constraints

Click the Continue button and close the Editor to get back into FEMAP and view the results.
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4. Viewing the Results

The results can be viewed in the normal way with the post processing menu and the contour controls
(see Figure 27). Additionally, multi-set animations can be generated to show the motion of the cylinder.

Figure 27. Results for Model with Contact Surfaces

A similar model was created using tet10 elements but with continuous mesh, no contact elements (see
Figure 28) and the results for both models are presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Results
Total Translation (in.) Solid Von Mises Stress (psi)
(nodal)
Model with Contact 0.00613 3326
Model without Contact 0.00661 2936

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Figure 28. Results for Model without Contact Surfaces

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