Best Practices for Modeling Bonded Contacts Between Thin Shells?

jhonnmick

Hi everyone,

I’m working on a model that involves two thin shell parts joined together (like a bracket welded to a plate). I’m trying to simulate bonded contact between them, but I’m not sure if there’s a preferred method in Mecway—especially regarding mesh alignment or contact stiffness settings.

Should I ensure nodes are shared, or is there a way to define bonded interaction explicitly between mismatched meshes?

Also, does this behave differently in CalculiX vs. built-in Mecway solver?

Appreciate any insights or examples!

Jhonn Mick
calculadoradedias.com

Victor

Shared nodes are usually easiest and most accurate if you have the meshes for that. But you can also use contact with the bonded option in either solver. The Constraint equations option works the same in both solvers because it's exported to CCX as *EQUATION cards. It has no stiffness parameter. The other types are only available for CCX or OpenRadioss and may be more reliable at including all nodes or work with large displacements.