Abaqus Contact Area Dependence on Youngs Modulus

[Rocco_d1]

Hi Guys,

I've got a question concerning the material calibration in Abaqus for a Hertzian pressing model of two two cylinders. I'm not quite sure about my contact area so I modeled a combined volume in CAD and ran some simulations with varying my Youngs Modulus of the softer part. Now I am a bit confused because the Contact Area (Surface to Surface Contact) doesnt change at all, even if I put my Youngs Modulus near to zero. Is that correct, I mean with a Youngs Modulus of nearly zero (of the softer part) the deformation of the softer part should be bigger (nearly to the combined volume/surface area from CAD) and the deformation is maximiced because there is no resistance to the deformation or is there something to know about the calculation of the contact area in Abaqus?

 

[FEA way]

If it's a simple Hertz contact problem then you can calculate the contact area analytically and compare it with the simulation results.