How do you apply 3-D contact between 2 flat surfaces in MECHNASIMS?

[cadkins]

I'm trying to apply 3-D contact between two flat surfaces, however it doesnt let me highlight bothe surfaces?

Cameron

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[TomU · Accepted solution]

No can do. Here is the blurb from the Wildfire 5 documentation:

About 3D Contact

A connection between two parts in different bodies is called 3D contact, where the contact is between a single surface or vertex in the first body and one or more spherical, cylindrical, or planar surfaces or vertices from the second body. You can define 3D contact between sphere-sphere, sphere-plane (or plane-sphere), cylinder-cylinder (or plane-cylinder), or cylinder-plane pairs as shown below. However, you cannot define 3D contact between a plane-plane or sphere-cylinder pair.

[cadkins]

Is there ways round this say for example use rounds on the edges or make one of the faces a segment of a cylinder with a radius so large that it is practically flat?

or any other suggestions?

Thanks

Cameron

[TomU]

Basically, yes. What I've done in the past is created an extra surface tangent with the flat surface I actually intend to contact.

[DavorGranic]

One way to dodge this problem without adding rounds is to use plane to swarm of points in 3D conection.

In this video coin has bunch of points on his flat surfaces.

Video Link : 5499

[cadkins]

Thanks. That looks like a really good idea.

How do I create a point swarm?

[DavorGranic]

In coin case I made bunch of datum points on coins outer edge. Then just use 3D contact and select them all and surface of box. You just need to define zone size around points how big you want it to be. Creo will treat each point as a sphere of mentioned size when analysing contact with flat surface.