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Contact Forces and Energy
Contact forces and energy can be post-processed either :
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along lines: this provides contact results along existing lines in the analysis. These results can be obtained and defined by using the contact variable from the Static and Dynamic Request tabs, as per most of the variables.
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for specified contact properties: this will provide summary results for existing contact properties in the analysis. These results can be obtained and defined by using the Contact tab placed within the Request tab.
Contact variables available include the following :
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Contact energy: This is the energy stored in the contact springs. This results allows to identify clashing energy for instance when two lines contact.
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Vertical reaction force: this is the normal reaction force resulting from the seabed or surface stiffness. The vertical reaction force may be either calculated by using linear stiffness or non-linear static and dynamic stiffness values.
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Axial friction force: this is the axial friction force resulting from the regularized Coulomb model.
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Lateral friction force: this is the lateral friction force resulting from the regularized Coulomb model.
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Trench resistance: this is the extra reaction force exerted on the pipe by the trench force model. This requires to have a trench properties defined in the model.
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Friction moment: this is the turning moment resulting from the application of lateral friction forces at the contact point on the pipe circumference rather than at the center point.
Note
Contact outputs are directly produced by the FEM solver as the calculation goes-on. These outputs are stored in dedicated text files which are then read by the GUI. Post-processing contact variables therefore requires that you run the calculation with a Version of the FEM solver compatible with contact outputs.
