Searching for Missing Contacts in 3D-CAD

To find potentially missing contacts, you can search for coincident faces which have a distance less than or equal to a defined proximity.

  1. Open the Contact dialog.
  2. Open the Additional Contact Pairs From: [SelectedInput] table using one of the following options:
    • To inspect all face and body pairs, click (Search For New Contact Pairs).
    • To inspect specific body or face pairs, activate the corresponding checkbox in the Existing Contact Pairs table and click (Search For New Contact Pairs).
    • To inspect the input bodies associated with one or more features, in the Existing Contact Pairs table, select the desired table rows then right-click the Feature column and select Search Selected Feature(s) For Contacts.
    • To inspect all features, right-click the Feature column in the Contact Groups row and select Search All Features For Contacts.
    • To inspect a specific feature, right-click the Feature column in the Contact Groups row and select Search Feature: [FeatureName].
    When the Additional Contact Pairs From: [SelectedInput] sub-panel is open, you can modify the input body pairs by activating and deactivating body and face pairs within the Existing Contact Pairs table or selecting one or more features using the right-click options. Whenever you make changes to the input selection, the Additional Contact Pairs From: [SelectedInput] table defaults to empty. If you change the inputs after a search has taken place, the search automatically updates. For a large number of body pairs this may take some time.


    If you change the existing model while the Additional Contact Pairs From: [SelectedInput] sub-panel is open, the sub-panel closes automatically.
  3. To check which body pairs are being inspected, in the Additional Contact Pairs From: [SelectedInput] sub-panel, select (View a List of Body Pairs to be Searched).
    When you are inspecting the body pairs, if you find unwanted or missing body pairs in the [Body Pairs to be Searched] dialog, you can modify the selection by selecting and deselecting the required body pairs in the Existing Contact Pairs table. Each time you change the selection, the table automatically updates to reflect the newly selected body pairs or features. You can leave [Body Pairs to be Searched] dialog open whilst you modify the body selection for the proximity search.
  4. Enter the required Proximity and click Search.
    When the search is complete, the unique face pairs are automatically selected in the Contact dialog and highlighted in the scene. The time it takes for Simcenter STAR-CCM+ to execute a search depends on a number of items including the complexity of the model and the number of body pairs being inspected. Because of this, you are advised to be selective about the body pairs that are being inspected, as inspecting the whole model for a single contact can take a long time. You can cancel searches at any time during the execution process by selecting in the progress bar.
  5. To choose what information appears in the Additional Contact Pairs From: [SelectedInput] table, right-click the table header and select the desired table columns in the Show table columns dialog.
  6. Inspect the potential additional contacts using the contact display options.
    The functionality of the Additional Contact Pairs From: [SelectedInput] table is similar to the Existing Contact Pairs table. If you select any face or body pair in the table the corresponding pair is automatically highlighted in the 3D-CAD View scene. By selecting either another row in the table or outside the table near the Cancel button, the previous selection is cancelled. Multiple rows can be selected by using Ctrl+Shift.

    The contact display options affect both the Additional Contact Pairs From: [SelectedInput] and Existing Contact Pairs tables simultaneously. This includes the filters, colors, auxiliary scenes, and display options.

  7. If required, create a design filter containing the selected contact face pairs:
    1. In the Additional Contact Pairs From: [SelectedInput] table, activate the checkbox next to the required body or face pairs.
    2. Select Create Filter.
      You can create multiple design filters from the Additional Contact Pairs From: [SelectedInput] sub-panel. You can use these design filters as the inputs for creating new Imprint Faces features.
    3. Select Cancel.
      When the Additional Contact Pairs From: [SelectedInput] sub-panel is open, you cannot create a new feature or edit an existing feature. Also, if a feature dialog is open you cannot activate the Additional Contact Pairs From: [SelectedInput] sub-panel.
  8. Create the missing contact using the new design filter:
    1. In the 3D-CAD model tree, right-click Design Filters > Design Filter 1 and select Imprint Faces.
    2. In the Imprint Faces dialog, set the required settings and click OK.
      When you execute the Imprint Faces feature using a tolerance equal to the proximity, some face pairs may not be converted to contacts due to a difference in the finding additional contacts algorithm and the imprint faces algorithm.
  9. Inspect the new contacts:
    1. In the Contacts dialog, click (Resume Table).
    2. Inspect the Existing Contact Pairs table manually or use a filter to check if the contact you have just created is included.
  10. In the Contacts dialog, click Close.