topic Surface contact names do not seem to update. in Inventor Nastran Forum

Surface contact names do not seem to update.

lkrenzler — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 14:40:36 GMT

When I change a surface contact to a different type, the name is not updated which can become quite confusing. Is this normal?

Not the same.

Re: Surface contact names do not seem to update.

John_Holtz — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 20:29:06 GMT

Hi @lkrenzler

The names are not supposed to update. They are just a text description that the software created, but after that, the user is responsible for changing the name to something meaningful.

Hypothetically, the software could know if the text is the default or something the user typed. If it is the default, it could change the name. But that would be confusing too if the name that you "knew" from before suddenly changed. But if you would like this or some other behavior, please feel free to create a suggestion on the Ideas page. (I did not search to see if such a suggestion already exists.)

Also, the icon shows the type of contact, so you do not need to use the name to describe the contact type (in theory).

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Re: Surface contact names do not seem to update.

John_Holtz — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 18:10:08 GMT

Hi @lkrenzler

Here are some other ideas and questions related to your model (not necessarily related to your question about the contact names updating).

It looks like you have hundreds of contact pairs. (I see "Contact (700)" through "Contact (707)".) My guess is that you used the "Contact > Auto" command to generate all of those. If a majority of those use the same contact settings, it is more efficient to use the "Contact > Solver" command to define contact for the "entire model", and then create individual contact pairs for locations that need a different contact setting.
How were the numerous "Sliding / No Separation" contact pairs created? I think maybe you found a trick that I am not aware of.

P.S. Let us know if you have any questions or comments on my previous reply.

Re: Surface contact names do not seem to update.

lkrenzler — Wed, 26 Sep 2018 13:55:54 GMT

Thanks for that. I did not understand how the "Contact>Solver" function worked until now. That is nice and helps a bit.

To answer your question, yes, I used the auto contact function to create the contacts. Then, just right clicked on the desired contacts and changed them to "sliding/no separation". That is how I used to do it in the original Inventor simulation environment. It was easier there though because all I had to do was select the part who's contact needed changing, go to "find in browser" (a function that really needs to be added here!) and under the part, the contacts for that part were all listed. I miss that.

As for the contact names, I would think they should change automatically unless they have been manually edited at some point. Just my opinion. It's confusing when you change a contact and the name is then clearly wrong as in the example I sent.