NEiNastran - Contact Surface-to-Surface using Shell Elements

[brianabreugomes]

Hi,

Having huge difficulties at the moment. I'm hoping someone here can help.

I created a nastran model of two plates. Each plate is 96"L x 24"W x 1" THK (Aluminum). In reality, the plates overlap eachother by 2" along its width(and there is no gap between them). Each plate has is its far end width constraint ("fixed"). An edge load of ~152.32# is applied on the width edge of the top plate.

The nodes that define the UPR and LWR plate are located in the mid-plane of the plate element (therefore UPR & LWR plate nodes are not co-located).

I chose the Contact Type as "Contact" and the Penetration Type as "Symmetric Contact." I clicked on the Auto button to allow Nastran to determine the MAX ACT DIST. I'm having difficulties with determining the appropriate Penetration Surface Offset.

Help is sincerly appreciated.

Thanks,
Brian