Do you need to create a Local Bonded Contact Set for SOLIDWORKS Simulation Shell Bodies?

Let’s assume you have a SOLIDWORKS simulation study and you have decided to represent your model using shell elements to optimize your resources. The two bodies that are modeled with shell elements are going to be rigidly bonded to each other in your actual model. You also have a global bonded contact in your simulation study to bond all the initially touching faces together. Do you need to create a local bonded contact set for your shell bodies?

To answer this question, let’s first review our geometry. In the picture below you can see two shell bodies that are going to be bonded together.

The two shell bodies

We are first performing an “Interference Detection” feature to see if the two bodies touch each other or not.

Performing an “Interference Detection” to Find Coincident Faces

As it can be seen in the above picture, the two bodies have a coincident interference with each other. You may think that due to this interference, you do not need to create a local bonded contact set and the global contact set will be applied here. However, before any conclusion, you should also check on which faces the shells are defined. Let’s see what are the shell faces for the two bodies.

Finding the Shell Face on Body 1

Finding the Shell Face on Body 2

As you can see there is a gap between the two shell faces that are defined on the bodies 1 and 2. This gap is equal to the thickness of the body 2. Therefore, we cannot conclude that the two shells are touching and therefore, global bonded contact set with not be applied to the shells and we need to create a local bonded contact set.

The Gap Between the Two Cases