Mixed Mesh in Simulation 2009

[cmarotta]

I am modeling an assembly in Simulation 2009 and I have noticed that the mesh seems to be incompatible between the solids and the shells, regardless of whether they're touching or I create contact sets or I create split lines on the shell. I'm concerned that the parts are not connected in the model, which they are supposed to be.
Has anyone else run into this and what have you done about it?

 

[rstupplebeen]

Have you tried a simple test? Make a cube with a flap and pull on the flap and fix some face of the cube. Then report back. I hope this helps.

Rob Stupplebeen

 

[cmarotta]

I've done several tests. The model is a cylindrical shell with a concentric solid ring which is smaller in length than the shell. The ID of the ring and the OD of the shell are identical. The global contact constraint is set to bonded.
I tried creating a contact set between the ID of the ring and the OD of the shell, tried creating split lines on the shell coincident with the ring edges, and tried creating a contact set between the edge of the ring and the surface of the shell. In all cases, the mesh is incompatible, in other words, the nodes along the edge of the ring do not correspond to nodes on the surface of the shell.
My concern is that the model will move the shell elements independently of the ring elements eveen though they are supposed to be attached at the common surface. See the attached picture. The nodes along the edge between the ring (grey elements) and the shell )orange elements) should be coincident.

 

[rstupplebeen]

I am much more familiar with Abaqus so I am probably using the wrong lingo but here goes. The meshes do not have to line up if the model has a tied constraint between the disjoint elements. Think of it as a boundary condition that glues together faces. In the end just run the analysis and if they separate then you know the answer. I hope this helps.

Rob Stupplebeen