37.3.1 Electrical contact properties
Products: Abaqus/Standard Abaqus/CAE
Overview
Electrical conduction between two bodies:
is proportional to the difference in electric potentials across the interface;
is a function of the clearance between the surfaces;
can be a function of contact pressure;
can be a function of surface temperatures and/or predefined field variables on the surfaces; and
can generate heat at the interface.
Including gap electrical conductance properties in a contact property definition
You can include electrical conductance properties in a contact property definition for surface-based contact.
| Input File Usage: | Use both of the following options: |
*SURFACE INTERACTION, NAME=name *GAP ELECTRICAL CONDUCTANCE |
| Abaqus/CAE Usage: | Interaction module: contact property editor: Electrical |
Modeling electrical conductance between surfaces
Abaqus/Standard models the electrical current flowing between two surfaces as
and 
are the electrical potentials on opposite points on the surfaces, and 
is the gap electrical conductance. Point A corresponds to a node on the slave surface of the contact pair. Point B is the point of the master surface in contact with point A.You can provide the electrical conductance directly or in user subroutine GAPELECTR.
Defining σg directly
When the gap electrical conductance is defined directly, Abaqus/Standard assumes that
is the average of the surface temperatures at A and B,
d
is the clearance between A and B,
p
is the contact pressure transmitted across the interface between A and B, and
is the average of any predefined field variables at A and B.
Defining gap electrical conductance as a function of clearance
You can create a table of data defining the dependence of on the variables listed above. The default in Abaqus is to make a function of the clearance, d. When is a function of gap clearance, d, the tabular data must start at zero clearance (closed gap) and define as a function of the clearance. The value of remains constant for clearances outside of the interval defined by the data points. If gap electrical conductance is not also defined as a function of contact pressure, will remain constant at the zero clearance value for all pressures, as shown in Figure 37.3.1–1(a).
Figure 37.3.1–1 Examples of defining the gap electrical conductance as a function of clearance (a) or contact pressure (b).
| Input File Usage: | *GAP ELECTRICAL CONDUCTANCE |
, 
| Abaqus/CAE Usage: | Interaction module: contact property editor: Electrical |
Defining gap electrical conductance as a function of contact pressure
You can define as a function of the contact pressure, p. When is a function of contact pressure at the interface, the tabular data must start at zero contact pressure (or, in the case of contact that can support a tensile force, the data point with the most negative pressure) and define as p increases. The value of remains constant for contact pressures outside of the interval defined by the data points. If gap electrical conductance is not also defined as a function of clearance, is zero for all positive values of clearance and discontinuous at zero clearance, as shown in Figure 37.3.1–1(b).
| Input File Usage: | *GAP ELECTRICAL CONDUCTANCE, PRESSURE |
, | Abaqus/CAE Usage: | Interaction module: contact property editor: Electrical |
Gap electrical conductance as a function of both clearance and contact pressure
You can define to depend on both clearance and pressure. A discontinuity in is allowed at 
and 
. Once contact occurs, the conductance is always evaluated based on the portion of the curve that defines the pressure dependence. The gap electrical conductance, , remains constant for contact pressures outside of the interval defined by the data points. The pressure dependence of is extended into the negative pressure region even if no data points with negative pressure are included.
| Input File Usage: | Use both of the following options: |
*GAP ELECTRICAL CONDUCTANCE |
| Abaqus/CAE Usage: | Interaction module: contact property editor: Electrical |
Defining gap electrical conductance to be a function of predefined field variables
The gap electrical conductance can be dependent on any number of predefined field variables, 
. By default, it is assumed that the electrical conductivity depends only on the surface separation and, possibly, on the average interface temperature.
| Input File Usage: | *GAP ELECTRICAL CONDUCTANCE, DEPENDENCIES=n |
| Abaqus/CAE Usage: | Interaction module: contact property editor: Electrical |
Defining σg using user subroutine GAPELECTR
When is defined in user subroutine GAPELECTR, there is greater flexibility in specifying the dependencies of than there is using direct tabular input. For example, it is no longer necessary to define as a function of the average of the two surfaces' temperatures or field variables:
| Input File Usage: | *GAP ELECTRICAL CONDUCTANCE, USER |
| Abaqus/CAE Usage: | Interaction module: contact property editor: Electrical |
Modeling heat generated by electrical conduction between surfaces
Abaqus/Standard can include the effect of heat generated by electrical conduction between surfaces in a coupled thermal-electrical and a fully coupled thermal-electrical-structural analysis. By default, all dissipated electrical energy is converted to heat and distributed equally between the two surfaces. You can modify the fraction of electrical energy that is released as heat and the distribution between the two surfaces; see “Modeling heat generated by nonthermal surface interactions” in “Thermal contact properties,” Section 37.2.1, for details.
Surface-based output variables for electrical contact property models
Abaqus/Standard provides the following output variables related to the electrical interaction of surfaces:
ECD | Electric current per unit area leaving slave surface. |
ECDA | ECD multiplied by the area associated with the slave node. |
ECDT | Time integrated ECD. |
ECDTA | Time integrated ECDA. |
The values of these variables are always given at the nodes of the slave surface. They can be requested as surface output to the data, results, or output database files (see “Surface output from Abaqus/Standard” in “Output to the data and results files,” Section 4.1.2, and “Surface output in Abaqus/Standard and Abaqus/Explicit” in “Output to the output database,” Section 4.1.3, for details).
Contour plots of these variables can also be displayed in the Visualization module of Abaqus/CAE (Abaqus/Viewer).