Create Contacts
The Contacts panel allows you to specify the attributes of a contact force between two bodies. Each body is represented by a set of graphics entities. The graphics entities could be a point, a set of curves, or the outer surfaces of the bodies depending on the type of contact that is chosen.
- From the Project Browser, select the system to which the contact is to be added.
-
Right-click on a system in the Project Browser and select Add > Force Entity > Contact from the context menu.
ORRight-click on a contact folder in the Project Browser and select Add Contact from the context menu.ORFrom the Model ribbon, click the Contacts icon.The Add Contact dialog is displayed.
-
Choose a contact type from the drop-down menu.
Option Description 3D Rigid to Rigid Contact Use this type of contact to capture contact forces between rigid bodies moving relative to each other in a 3D frame. 2D Rigid to Rigid Contact Use this type of contact to capture contact forces between rigid bodies moving relative to each other in a 2D plane. Point to Deformable Surface Contact Use this type of contact to capture contact forces between a deformable surface and a sphere of radius (r), where the sphere belongs to a second body. Flexbody to flexbody or flexbody to rigid body contact can be modeled by creating many of these entities where the set of spheres represent a discretization of the second body’s outer surface. - Specify a label for the contact.
-
Specify a variable name for the contact.
By default, variables names of entities in MotionView follow a certain convention. For example, all contact entities have a variable name starting with “con_”. This is the recommended convention to follow when building models in MotionView since it has many advantages in model editing and model manipulation.
-
Click OK to close the window or
Apply to continue creating entities.
Once a contact entity has been added to the model, the panel for the contact will automatically be displayed in the panel area.