Hello all,

I’m looking for advice on contact modeling strategies in SolidWorks Simulation for a contact-dominated support structure, where both accuracy and computation time matter.

I need to run 200+ simulations (≈20 geometries × ≈10 load cases), so I’m trying to identify the simplest model that still captures the governing failure mode.

Model Overview (see attached image)

Built as a multi-body part (not an assembly)

Two welded substructures:

Moving body: cradle + vertical tube + small base plate (merged)

Fixed body: base plate + two L-brackets + vertical tube (merged)

Geometry ranges:

Tube thickness: 2–12 mm

Height up to 1000 mm

Plate thickness: 12 mm

Boundary Conditions: 

Bottom of fixed tube fully constrained

Roller/slider on one side face of the moving plate

(blocks lateral motion, allows longitudinal sliding)

Contact Definition 

I deleted Global contact.

Local contacts: No Penetration at : 

Bottom of moving plate ↔ top of fixed plate

Side restraint:

Vertical faces of moving plate ↔ inner faces of brackets

(one side touching to prevent rigid body motion, other side with gap)

Uplift / tipping restraint:

Upper faces of moving plate ↔ underside of bracket horizontal legs

(modeled physical gap of 5 mm)

Modeling Strategies Compared

I tested three approaches:

A) All solid elements

it takes a lot of time, sometimes it doesn't finish ( i think it converges ) 

B) Mixed solid / shell ( SOLID : 2 plates and the L brackets / SHELLS : the rest )

Solids in contact regions 

Shells for tubes and cradle

Peak stress location and magnitude differ noticeably from (A)

C) All shell 

Much faster

But unclear reliability for contact, gap closure, and load transfer

For contact-dominated problems, is all-solid generally the only reliable option in SolidWorks?

Is an all-shell model ever acceptable when contact, gaps are involved, or should it be avoided entirely?

For estimating admissible loads, what strategy have you found to be the best compromise:

Coarse all-solid?

Carefully limited mixed solid/shell?

Any guidance, best practices, or rules of thumb from experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.