Learning Forum

[safiana]

I have a model where I am using a piezoelectric patch bonded to the surface of a structure. Let's make it simple and assume this structure is just a solid steel bar where a thin layer of piezoelectric patch is glued on its surface. nAfter creating the geometries of these two models, I found two options to define the interaction between this piezoelectric patch and the solid bar. The first one is defining bonded contact between the patch and the bar (surface to surface - bonded always). Another method is gluing these two volumes/geometries together. Once I glue them, I still can apply two different material properties for each volume, but for meshing, these two volumes will share similar nodes. This is contrary to bonded contact where two geometries won't share nodes and contact elements are considered between them.nnI would like to ask if these two methods are correct or not? Basically, I can't understand the difference between these two models. All I know is that having the bonded contact creates nonlinearity and needs higher computational time.nnMy real model has too many elements and nodes. My preference is not having a nonlinear solver.Thank you in advance for any comments.nAli n

[1shan]

,nContacts are used to connect 2 bodies when it is not possible it ensure a node-to-node connectivity( which is generally the case for most assemblies). A bonded contact is a linear contact so this will not add any nonlinearity to the model. Both approaches should give you a similar answer.nnRegards,nIshan.n

[safiana]

Thank you very much for your response!n