Defining self-contact

A self-contact definition can be used as an alternative to general contact to model contact interactions between different areas of a single surface. Certain interaction behaviors can be defined only by using self-contact. For a brief overview of self-contact and other types of interactions available in Abaqus, see Understanding interactions, and About contact interactions.

You can define self-contact in any step, including the initial step. Select InteractionCreate from the main menu bar and select the surface. You can define self-contact between an edge of a wire, a face of a solid, or a face of a shell. Certain connectivity restrictions apply to contact surfaces depending on the type of contact formulation. You can deactivate a self-contact interaction in a step and, if desired, reactivate this interaction in a subsequent step. You can also deactivate the interaction in a step if it will no longer be needed in the analysis.

You can obtain contact data for a specific self-contact interaction by using the field and history output request editors in the Step module. In the Domain section of the editors, select Interaction and choose the name of the self-contact interaction from the menu that appears. For more information, see Creating an output request.

The procedure for defining self-contact depends on whether you are performing an analysis using Abaqus/Standard or Abaqus/Explicit. This section provides instructions for using the interaction editor to define the different surface-to-surface contact options.


In this section:

Defining self-contact in an Abaqus/Standard analysis
Defining self-contact in an Abaqus/Explicit analysis