Hi All,

I have encountered a conceptually simple issue which has become surprisingly difficult to model. Imagine there are two parts with a simple contact interface between them. In the actual structure, a thin layer of material is injected between the two parts until a predefined level of pressure is achieved. Then, the injected material solidifies and sticks to one of the parts. This creates a 'locked-in' contact pressure between the two parts.

Since the geometry is complex, we do not want to model the thin layer; instead, we wanted to model the two parts and somehow create an initial contact pressure between them - but we haven't been able to find a simple solution. Note that I've explored using an 'Interference Fit' however the amount of initial penetration needed to create this 'locked-in' stress is not known a priori and also not constant throughout the model (this is a large model with different regions and contact conditions). So, the preference is to see if we can prescribe an actual initial pressure stress between the two parts (which is the only known quantity based on field measurements).

I've attached a simplified figure to elaborate - please note that the actual model is much more complicated, but the concept is the same.

Thanks in advance.

Sina