GAP ELEMENT CONTACT ELEMENT

These are special forms of non-linear element that have a very high stiffness in compression and a low stiffness in tension. They are used to model contact conditions between surfaces. Most of these elements also contain a model for sliding friction between the contacting surfaces. Some gap elements are just line springs between points and others are more general forms of quadrilateral or brick element elements. The line spring elements should only be used in meshes of first order finite elements.