Simulation Mechanical 2017 - Windows 10 - Contact Settings issue

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

This is a strange one. I have just downloaded Sim Mech 2017. I am new to the program and to the forums so forgive me if I don't use the right terms. 

When attempting to open contact settings on the display bar, on the left of screen, it will give me an 'Out of Memory' message.

I first found this out when trying to adjust contact settings with a 2D model. I could set up the mesh, constraints, loads and so on but as soon as I went to adjust contact settings it would give me the 'Out of memory' message. When trying to select ok it would not disappear either.

A similar situation happens even when no model is actually in the workspace. Only difference is, if the model is not yet uploaded and I try to open contact settings it will still give me the 'Out of Memory' box. Then if I click ok the 'out of memory' box will disappear and proceed to the contact settings dialog box. To give you an idea of what this looks like, I've attached a screenshot. Let me know if you can't open it.

Machine has 8GB RAM, i7 processor. I tried to increase page file size (from 1200-odd MB all the way to 16000MB) but this didn't make any difference. Computer doesn't seem to run unusually slow. Software package is student version.

I hope this makes sense and I hope that anyone else who might have this issue can get help too. Greatly appreciated.

Gabe

[John_Holtz]

Hi Gabe. Welcome to the forum.

It's a good thing that you do not need to use that dialog for anything. (Actually, it is rarely used, so you can get by without using it for 99% of your models.)

I think the error is not related to memory, so no need to spend time upgrading your RAM or page file size. I think the "out of memory" error is a result of some other problem that triggers something else that triggers the out of memory. My guess is that it is related to permissions and Win 10. Try the following.

1. From the Start button, go to "Autodesk > Simulation Mechanical 2017" folder. But instead of clicking "Simulation Mechanical 2017" to run the program, right-click and choose "Run as administrator". Does that solve the problem?
2. If not, then use Windows Explorer and navigate to the folder where the software is installed (usually C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Simulation 2017). Locate the file "regall.bat", right-click on it, and choose "Run as Administrator". It will take a minute or 2 to register all of the files. After it does that, repeat step 1. Does the software run now?

[Anonymous]

John,

Thank you very, very much for the quick reply!

Unfortunately I am not at home for the next few hours but I will certainly try your suggestions as soon as I get home.

Would I not need to adjust these settings even if I am doing a simple 2D, non-linear analysis? I'm fairly sure that I need to adjust these settings as I wanted to run a 2D FEA test on a pressurized O-ring cross-section within a gland/groove. Obviously when the O-ring is squeezed and pressurised there will be contact between the O-ring and gland surfaces.

Even if I don't need contact settings I will still try your suggestions later and let you know of the outcome. Many thanks.

Gabe

[Anonymous]

Hi John,

Currently waiting for the computer to register the files, as you suggested in your second tip. It's been about 20-30 minutes now and it doesn't seem to have done anything... where as you said it should take a minute or two. I've attached another screen-shot of what it's doing. I'll let you know soon if anything else happens. In the meantime, why might this be happening? Any ideas?

Thanks,

Gabe

[Anonymous]

Ok John I tried your second suggestion but it still hasn't changed anything. For some reason when I right-clicked RegAll.bat and chose 'Run as administrator' the command prompt would open but would not do anything. So I had to manually open command prompt (administrator).

Then I followed the steps according to 'How to run regall.bat for Simulation Mechanical' from Autodesk Simulation Mechanical Troubleshooting. After putting the command into the command prompt, it then ran as it is supposed to.

After this nothing changed. What other options do I have? Could this be that Simulation Mechanical 2017 has a bug? Should I reinstall Sim Mech 2017 and see if that fixes it?

Gabe

[John_Holtz]

Hi Gabe,

I will have to do some investigating. You could try to reinstall since I do not have a better suggestion at the moment.

This is the dialog that you are trying to access -- just 3 options. (See attached.) The first option is used once-in-awhile when you have a model with lots of contact elements but the parts barely move relative to each other. I have never used the last option. So the second option is used 99% of the time. This is why I said, being partly serious and partly humorous, that you do not need to access the dialog.

I suggest that you go through a few MES models and see if everything else is working. You may find something else that does not work, and perhaps that will provide some more clues as to what is going on. (In addition to the tutorials, there is a surface-to-surface contact example in "Start & Learn > Learn > Help > Users' Guide > Examples > Mechanical Event Simulation > Surface to Surface Contact.)

[Anonymous]

Hi John,

Thank you for looking into it. To give more detail about my issue, I'll explain a bit more...

I can actually run the model with no issues. I've attached an image of the final result of an MES nonlinear analysis. Now this DOES have contact surfaces that I applied manually between the parts. This is evident from the distortion seen by the rubber seal i the gland.

However, this clearly is not an accurate representation of contact, as there is a bit of penetration between the seal and the solid gland surfaces. Consequently, what I would LIKE to then do is go to the FEA Editor tab in the navigation bar and right-click the contact pairs to edit contact settings. This is so that I can apply friction between the contacting surfaces and get rid of the penetration issue. Contact pairs are highlighted in the attached 'MES_pic2' file.

The next step is where the problem lies. If I then right-click either/both of the highlighted contact pairs and then choose Edit Settings (as shown in attached MES_pic3), I get the 'Out of Memory' message (MES_pic4). I then try to accept the message by clicking OK several times, which then crashes the program (see MES_pic5).

So, as I said, slightly different to when there's no model uploaded - in that case I will simply get the error message but then I'm able to proceed after clicking OK just once.

Hopefully this has clarified it a bit more, rather than made it more confusing. 😕

Regards,

Gabe

[Anonymous]

Other pictures I referred to...

[Anonymous]

Another question on a slightly different note but still related to contact settings...

The actual reason I was concerned about this issue was because, at the end of the day, I want to simulate the compression and activation of an O-ring in a gland. Do you John, or anyone else out there, know of a simple method for doing this? As you can see in the pictures I got the compression stage sorted but I then want to simulate the pressurisation of the bottom surface of the O-ring after compression.

I thought of maybe splitting the O-ring element in half (to have an upper and bottom half) so that I can then select just the lower-half's surface and apply pressure to that. Would that work or will splitting the O-ring like that cause issues? Sorry to dump requests like this.

Regards,

Gabe

[John_Holtz]

Hi Gabe,

We are still trying to figure out what is going wrong on your machine. Can you confirm that you tried to run the software as an administrator? (Suggestion 1 in my original reply.)

Also, if you want to recreate the crash and enter your email into the error report (your image MES_pic5), then we can look up the report and maybe see what module is causing the problem. Either send a private message to me (hover over my user-name on the left side > "Send a message") or reply to the post with your email address that you enter so that we can find it.

For the pressurization, you should split the surface so that you can apply a pressure to the bottom half. That should not cause any problems with the analysis.

By the way, your o-ring is a little bit big (~25 m diameter cross section!). I think you have a problem with the units.

[Anonymous]

Hi John,

Yes I ran it as administrator but nothing changed. When I tried that, the top of the program window said 'Autodesk Simulation Mechanical (Time-limited) 2017'. Is this what you expect to see, even if it is run as administrator?

I realised after I uploaded the O-ring model that the program must've scaled up my original drawing ha ha. I'll fix that next time.

I have sent you a private message with my email and error report number included.

Thanks,

Gabe

[Anonymous]

Hi John,

Got an update for you, and it's some good news!

I uninstalled V2017, installed v2016 and then when I tried to access the contact settings dialog box, it actually worked!

So then maybe it's an issue with the 2017 software somehow? Unless it was some strange issue specific to my computer not agreeing with the 2017 version.

Anyway, thought I'd give you an update on that. Hopefully that helps with the diagnosis of the issue.

However, I do still have a problem with the O-ring penetrating the surface of the gland - it does detect that there is contact to a degree, but there is still a little bit of penetration. I haven't spent very long playing with it so I will let you know if I find the solution.

Gabe

[John_Holtz]

Hi Gabe,

Thanks for the update. I will pass the information on to the developers.

It sounds like you need to increase the contact stiffness to prevent the penetration -- which you can do now that you can access the dialogs.

[Anonymous]

Hi again John,

I think I got the penetration issue sorted, but now there's another problem...

I'll be honest I am completely stuck with this model. I tried to attach the FEM file but it must be too large. Should I send it to your email John so that you can see it in person? I've briefly described what's wrong below.

I have a 2D model of an O-ring cross-section inside a gland. I've split the O-ring/seal surface in half so that I can apply pressure to the bottom surface of the seal. This is a nonlinear MES analysis.

However, when I run the simulation, the O-ring 'flies away', seeming without recognising the surface contact. I can manage to get the O-ring to make contact if I reduce the pressure but it just doesn't work with the (larger) pressure I want.

If you could help me with this John that would be greatly appreciated.

[John_Holtz]

Hi,

FEM files cannot be attached to the forum because they are not the complete model. In other words, there is no reason to attach a FEM file because it doesn't provide everything. You need to create an archive of the model and attach it: "app button > archive > create".

It sounds to me as if the pressure is accelerating the o-ring so fast that contact is not detected. So one solution is to change the load curve for the pressure so that a small load is applied until contact is detected, and then ramp it up to full load.

[Anonymous]

Ok I've attached the archived file of the model only without results.

I actually did try to use the Load curve as you suggested. Maybe I need to reduce the load curve even more - will let you know as soon as I get it. Thanks John.

[Anonymous]

I think I got it! It hasn't shot off to where it shouldn't be hehe.

Thank you John that was great help. 🙂

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I am having the exact same issue, I just recently purchased Simulation Mechanical 2017.

When I go to edit settings for surface-surface contact in MES the out of memory box appears. I have followed some of your suggestions, none of them have worked.

Is there a solution for this?

[Anonymous]

Hi Jack,

Based on my experience, I would recommend installing the 2016 version. Somehow, after doing that, the issue was gone completely.

Before taking that as a solution though - does your computer have sufficient memory/RAM for this program? You may have to adjust your pagefile size? You may have a slightly different problem to me, you never know.

Have you tried Simulation Mechanical 2016?

Hopefully that will sort it out. Otherwise, if that doesn't work, there is at least one Service Pack for Simulation Mechanical 2017 that you can download from Autodesk. This is supposed to patch some of the more well-known issues that people have reported with this program. This didn't seem to work for me though so it may not work for you either.

Still if you haven't tried version 2016 I would definitely try that. Hopefully this helps you out.

Gabe

[mec]

Hello,

I also have the same problem. I have tried all the suggestions given before without result.

Thank you