Hello Everyone,

This is a just a general question to the experts out there.  In my experience running simulations using bonded contact with the penalty method in Ansys Workbench I have a lot of difficulty obtaining convergence if the forces at the bonded connection are tangential as opposed to normal to the bonded surfaces.  I try a variety of methods to help with convergence including pinball adjustments and normal stiffness factor adjustments, but none seem to help.  My best option typically is to change the formulation to MPC instead of penalty.

I have read quite a bit of documentation, but still cannot find a good explanation as to the cause of this.  I assume that the bonded connections have tangential stiffness, but I am not sure if it is controlled by the normal stiffness factor or if there is a separate command that needs to be issued for tangential stiffness.

Any insight would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

steve
 

Stephen Seymour, PE
Seymour Engineering & Consulting Group
www.seymourecg.com