Internal generation of contact entities to model contact behavior in simulations involving non-circular beam elements

A computer-aided design (CAD) system for structurally simulating a real-world object to determine physical contact behavior of the real-world object, the system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory with computer code instructions stored thereon, the processor and the memory, with the computer code instructions, being configured to cause the system to:
• create, in the memory, a computer-based beam element model representing a component of a real-world object, the computer-based beam element model comprising beam nodes;
• automatically generate contact entities based on a cross-sectional geometry of the component of the real-world object and the created computer-based beam element model, wherein (i) the generated contact entities include contact nodes for the computer-based beam element model and (ii) automatically generating the contact entities includes setting locations of the contact nodes based on the cross-sectional geometry;
• establish a mesh based on the generated contact entities by connecting the contact nodes via edges, the mesh surrounding the computer-based beam element model and representing outer surface geometry of the component of the real-world object;
• and
• determine physical contact behavior of the real-world object by performing a computer-based structural simulation using the computer-based beam element model and the established mesh surrounding the computer-based beam element model, wherein, in the structural simulation, motion of the mesh, surrounding the computer-based beam element model and representing outer surface geometry of the component of the real-world object, is constrained to correspond to motion of the beam nodes.

A computer program product for structurally simulating a real-world object to determine physical contact behavior of the real-world object, the computer program product comprising:

• a non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable program instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by a processor, causing the processor to:
• create, in a database, a computer-based beam element model representing a component of a real-world object, the computer-based beam element model comprising beam nodes;
• automatically generate contact entities based on a cross-sectional geometry of the component of the real-world object and the created computer-based beam element model, wherein (i) the generated contact entities include contact nodes for the computer-based beam element model and (ii) automatically generating the contact entities includes setting locations of the contact nodes based on the cross-sectional geometry;
• establish a mesh based on the generated contact entities by connecting the contact nodes via edges, the mesh surrounding the computer-based beam element model and representing outer surface geometry of the component of the real-world object;
• and
• determine physical contact behavior of the real-world object by performing a computer-based structural simulation using the computer-based beam element model and the established mesh surrounding the computer-based beam element model, wherein, in the structural simulation, motion of the mesh, surrounding the computer-based beam element model and representing outer surface geometry of the component of the real-world object, is constrained to correspond to motion of the beam nodes.