Load Step: Interface Controls

The Interface Controls option defines the following Abaqus keywords: *CONTACT, *CONTACT CONTROLS, *CLEARANCE, *CONTACT INTERFERENCE, *MODEL CHANGE, *CHANGE FRICTION, and *CONTROLS. It also allows you to add *CONTACT PAIR and *SURFACE INTERACTION cards created from the Abaqus Contact Manager to a load step. When you select an interface controls option from the tree, the corresponding table is displayed in the Load Step window.

The Interface controls: table contains a list of interface controls of the type selected in the tree. You can create, edit, rename, reorder, and delete interface controls from this table.

step_mgr_interface_controls

The Interface controls table contains the following columns:

Column	Description
Status	The history status of the interface control. If the status is on, the corresponding interface control parameters and data lines will be exported in the current load step. If the status is off, the interface control will not be exported under the current *STEP block.
Name	The name of the interface controls. Some of the interface controls names are for HyperMesh internal use only. Abaqus input files do not require them.

Notes:

•	Right-click on the table to display menu options. The available options are Rename and Reorder.

•	Table columns can be resized by positioning the cursor along a column border, pressing the left or right mouse button, and dragging the border to a new position.

The Interface controls table contains the following buttons:

Button	Action
New	Opens the Create dialog for the corresponding interface control. The name of the new interface control is entered in this dialog. Use the Same as option to create an interface control by copying attributes from an existing interface control of the same type. Click Create to create an interface control and add it to the current load step.
Edit	Opens the card image panel for the selected interface control. Click edit to open the card editor and define all relevant keywords, parameters, and data lines. When you are finished, click return twice and the Step Manager is updated.
Delete	Opens the HyperMesh Delete panel to delete interface controls. When you are finished, click return and the Interface controls table will be updated.