Using contacts, you can go beyond just modeling how parts meet at points and model how solid bodies react when they come in contact with one another when the model is in motion.
For more on the theory behind contact forces, see the
CONTACT statement in the Adams Solver online help.
About Contact Forces
Contacts allow you to model how free-moving bodies interact with one another when they collide during a simulation.
Contacts are grouped into two categories:
■Two-dimensional contacts, which include the interaction between planar geometric elements (for example, circle, curve, and point)
■Three-dimensional contacts, which include the interaction between solid geometry (for example, spheres, cylinders, enclosed shells, extrusions, and revolutions).
You currently cannot model contact between a two-dimensional and a three-dimensional geometry, except for sphere-to-plane contact.
For more on the theory behind contact forces, see the
CONTACT statement in the
Adams Solver online help.