Very interesting question and also too general to be answered precisely and I would like to answer this question under the context of electrical and thermal analysis.

I liked Bala Saravanan K's answer to this question and the link he provided sheds light on this topic a bit.

One of the contact detection method works with distance between objects (which can be the distance between either concave or convex objects surfaces). Figure 1 in the link provided by Bala Saravanan K describes the “Augmented Lagrange” contact formulation and “Pin Ball” concept in ANSYS Mechanical. ANSYS considers a minimum distance for defining contacts between objects if auto detection method is used in “Mechanical”. Otherwise, manual method can be used where user can adjust the minimum distance (Tolerance Value). Besides “Tolerance Value”, there is another parameter called “Pin Ball” which has to be smaller than Tolerance Value. If the minimum distance between two objects is less than Pin Ball radius defined in the model, then heat or electrical current can be passed from on side of the contact to the other side.

Hope other people can add more information to this thread and explain other important aspects of defining contacts in ANSYS.

Thanks,

Dear Farzad Torabi

Find the attachment below

https://caeai.com/blog/how-make-sure-your-contact-elements-hit-target

I hope this would help you

Good question

Very interesting question and also too general to be answered precisely and I would like to answer this question under the context of electrical and thermal analysis.

I liked Bala Saravanan K's answer to this question and the link he provided sheds light on this topic a bit.

One of the contact detection method works with distance between objects (which can be the distance between either concave or convex objects surfaces). Figure 1 in the link provided by Bala Saravanan K describes the “Augmented Lagrange” contact formulation and “Pin Ball” concept in ANSYS Mechanical. ANSYS considers a minimum distance for defining contacts between objects if auto detection method is used in “Mechanical”. Otherwise, manual method can be used where user can adjust the minimum distance (Tolerance Value). Besides “Tolerance Value”, there is another parameter called “Pin Ball” which has to be smaller than Tolerance Value. If the minimum distance between two objects is less than Pin Ball radius defined in the model, then heat or electrical current can be passed from on side of the contact to the other side.

Hope other people can add more information to this thread and explain other important aspects of defining contacts in ANSYS.

Thanks,

Dear Claudio Pedrazzi

The link that you provided is a complete source of information regarding contacts which pretty much explain all the concepts.

Thank you for sharing it in this thread.