Conical pin contact pressure

- July 3, 2019 at 2:09 pm
  
  cryptonary
  Subscriber
  
  Hi all.
  
  I am trying to simulate a conical-shaped pin (male) being pressed into a hexagonal cylinder female part, both made of copper. However, I don't understand the resulting contact pressure between the two parts. More specifically, there seems to be concentrations of contact pressure, but I expect it to be quite uniform, throughout.
  
  I have attached images of the geometry, boundary conditions and results (contact pressure and equivalent stress).
  
  Any help is appreciated. Thanks
- July 3, 2019 at 3:13 pm
  
  peteroznewman
  Subscriber
  
  I would guess that the mesh element size and the contact detection settings are creating the hot spots shown in this image.
  
  I expect with smaller elements and changes in the contact settings, you can smooth out those hot spots which must be artifacts and not the true solution.
- July 3, 2019 at 3:17 pm
  
  peteroznewman
  Subscriber
  
  I would also suggest that you slice the model down to a 1/12 symmetry model. That way you can have three planes with zero normal displacement making for a very uniform support for the outer part. With much reduced volume, you can use much smaller elements. Make sure you are using quadratic elements that can represent curvature.