PCONTEC

Bulk Data Entry Defines Contact Electric Resistance Coefficient (CERC) for CONTACT elements in electrical analysis.

Format

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)
PCONTEC PID KCERC   TPID TCID        

Examples

Manual specification of KCERC:
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)
PCONTEC 2 200.0              
Automatic determination of KCERC:
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)
PCONTEC 2 AUTO              
Request pressure-based contact ERC:
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)
PCONTEC 2     10          
Clearance and pressure-based contact ERC (3, 4):
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)
PCONTEC 2 150   10 20        

Definitions

Field Contents SI Unit Example
PID Property identification number. 1

No default (Integer > 0)

  
KCERC Contact Electric Resistance Coefficient (CERC) for the closed contact. 2
Real ≥ 0.0
AUTO

No default

  
TPID Identification number of a TABLED# entry. This table specifies resistance per unit contact area (Contact ERC) based on contact pressure. 3, 4

Default = 0 (Integer > 0)

  
TCID Identification number of a TABLED# entry. This table specifies resistance per unit contact area (Contact ERC) based on contact clearance. 3, 4, 5

Default = 0 (Integer > 0)

  

Comments

  1. PCONTEC provides resistance per unit area for CONTACT elements. The PID of a PCONTEC Bulk Data Entry must match that of an existing PCONT Bulk Data Entry.

    If the secondary side is specified as grid set, then you can assume that a unit area is assigned to each grid in this set.

    Resistance per unit area is in the same unit as electric coefficients, also called contact ER (electrical resistance). Total conductance is calculated as contact area divided by KCERC.

  2. KCERC represents contact electrical resistance values for closed contacts. Theoretically, while lower contact electric resistance values enforce a perfect conductor, excessively low values may cause poor conditioning of the conductance matrix. If such symptoms are observed, you may need to increase the value of contact electrical resistance.

    To facilitate reasonable values for KCERC, automatic calculation (KCERC=AUTO) is supported. This determines the value of KCERC for each contact element using the contact electric conductance values of surrounding elements.

  3. TPID points to a TABLED# entry that specifies resistance per unit contact area (Contact ERC) based on contact pressure. Total resistance is the product of table value and actual contact area. TPID is used when Electric Contact Analysis uses STATSUB(STRUCTURE) to reference the Contact status from a static subcase. TPID overrides KCERC for coupled electric contact analysis.
  4. TCID points to a TABLED# entry that specifies resistance per unit contact area based on contact clearance. TPID can be specified together with TCID. When TPID is specified together with TCID, contact electrical resistance is determined from the table with TCID for open contact, and from the table with TPID for closed contact (overrides KCERC). TCID overrides KCERC for closed contact if TPID is not present.
  5. For clearance-based Contact ERC table lookup, Contact ERC is linearly interpolated within the table range (which should start from zero clearance), and it becomes zero when extrapolated outside the table range.
  6. For CONTACT interfaces without PCONT, PCONTEC is not required. Contact Electrical Resistance values based on KCERC=AUTO is utilized in such cases.
  7. For Electrical contact with FREEZE status, the actual contact status is considered closed in electrical conduction analysis.
  8. Electrical Contact Analysis via PCONTEC and PGAPEC is supported for Steady-State Electric Analysis and Multi-Steady Electric Analysis.
  9. This card is represented as a property in HyperMesh.