CalculiX Contact Surface

Model setup
1

Hi everyone,

I am having difficulty in creating surfaces in calculix. I have created my geometry and mesh via gmsh. Then, i get the .inp file. While trying to create surfaces, I am constantly getting the error below.

*ERROR reading *SURFACE. Card image:
LOAD_FACE_TOP

Also I provided the problematic part of the code below.
*SURFACE, NAME=S_Load_Top, TYPE=ELEMENT
LOAD_FACE_TOP

where LOAD_FACE_TOP is;

*ELSET,ELSET=LOAD_FACE_TOP
2547, 2548, 2549, 2550, 2551, 2552, 2553, 2554, 2555, 2556,
2557, 2558, 2559, 2560, 2561, 2562, 2563, 2564, 2565, 2566,
2567, 2568, 2569, 2570, 2571, 2572, 2573, 2574, 2575, 2576,
2577, 2578, 2579, 2580, 2581, 2582, 2583, 2584, 2585, 2586,
2587, 2588, 2589, 2590, 2591, 2592, 2593, 2594, 2595, 2596,
2597, 2598, 2599, 2600, 2601, 2602, 2603, 2604, 2605, 2606,
2607, 2608, 2609, 2610, 2611, 2612, 2613, 2614, 2615, 2616,
2617, 2618, 2619, 2620, 2621, 2622, 2623, 2624, 2625, 2626,
2627, 2628, 2629, 2630, 2631, 2632, 2633, 2634, 2635, 2636,
2637, 2638, 2639, 2640, 2641, 2642, 2643, 2644, 2645, 2646,
2647, 2648, 2649, 2650, 2651, 2652, 2653, 2654, 2655, 2656,
2657, 2658, 2659, 2660, 2661, 2662, 2663, 2664,

These values are corresponding to the triangle surface of the tetrahedral meshes that are on the physical group(surface).

In addition to that, I compared the way how PrePoMax implies and solves w/o any error and see that it finds the tetrahedrals which has any surface coincident with physical surface I defined and which specific surface is coincident. As an example, i provided the method.

*Surface, Name=Internal_Selection-1_Solid_part-1_to_Solid_part-3_Master, Type=Element
Internal-1_Internal_Selection-1_Solid_part-1_to_Solid_part-3_Master_S3, S3
Internal-1_Internal_Selection-1_Solid_part-1_to_Solid_part-3_Master_S2, S2
Internal-1_Internal_Selection-1_Solid_part-1_to_Solid_part-3_Master_S4, S4
Internal-1_Internal_Selection-1_Solid_part-1_to_Solid_part-3_Master_S1, S1

This PrePoMax method is really different from the gmsh. Is there a way to obtain such an .inp file from gmsh. If you could provide me any help, I would really appreciate it.

Thank you in advance.

Surface definition for coupling
2

Not really unless you do the work via the Python API. It may be easier just to do everything on prep max.

1 Like
3

Maybe try the gmsh2ccx script from here: GitHub - calculix/gmsh2ccx: Gmsh to CalculiX converter (.inp to .inp)

1 Like
5

Probably, I will need to design a specific converter for this implementation since I want to run all the code in background.

6

I saw the gmsh2ccx. As far as I understand, it works well with 2D models but I am working with 3D model.

7

this is incomplete for shell elements, you have to add

*SURFACE, NAME=S_Load_Top, TYPE=ELEMENT
LOAD_FACE_TOP, SPOS

or SNEG depending on the side (see manual)