Hi Dave, if the two parts are essentially welded or bonded
completely (or you can reasonably assume they are), merging parts
is a common technique. However, if you are concerned about results
at the interface as suggested in your note, I'd have to question
whether the "perfectly bonded" assumption is valid. Also, there
should be no increase in run time or resources to use a bonded
contact vs. merging the parts across the boundaries.
If you truly have a condition where sliding or separation can
occur, I don't recommend you try to shortcut this. Use contact and
let it run. I can share with you that one of the more common
mistakes users make is to over-bond components that should have
some relative movement and run the risk of invalidating their
results. Please be careful with this technique. Even though we made
it the default, it isn't always the right option. Please make sure
that your part-part interactions are as near to the actual physical
conditions as possible.
If you take the time to experiment, you may find that a shortcut
can give you the same results or at least guide you to the same
design decisions as a full contact model, thus speeding up
subsequent runs. However, you won't know they match unless you've
run the more complete model first.
Vince
Hi Dave, if the two parts are essentially welded or bonded completely (or you can reasonably assume they are), merging parts is a common technique. However, if you are concerned about results at the interface as suggested in your note, I'd have to question whether the "perfectly bonded" assumption is valid. Also, there should be no increase in run time or resources to use a bonded contact vs. merging the parts across the boundaries.