zone interface node command
Syntax
- zone interface <s > node keyword <range>
 Primary keywords:
displacement-shear displacement-small extra group history initialize-stresses list stress-shear stress-normal-increment property update
Note
- The following nomenclature / equivalence between FLAC3D and FLAC2D is used:
 Interface faces = faces in 3D and edges (lines connecting gridpoints) in 2D
There is no 2D equivalence for 3D edges
3D volumes <-> 2D areas
Element or node effective surface area in 3D <-> Element or node effective length in 2D.
Configure interface nodes.
If an interface name s is given the command is applied only to nodes of that interface, otherwise the command is applied to the nodes in all interfaces that fall in the optional range.
- displacement-shear v
 Overwrites the shear displacement vector for all interface nodes in the range. The value will be constrained to be perpendicular to the interface normal direction.
- displacement-small f
 Interfaces operating in small-strain mode derive their forces from a comparison of “virtual positions” of the two interacting faces, where a “virtual position” of a point is the original coordinate of the point plus the accumulated displacement ( displacement-small ) to date. If one contacting object is removed (e.g., backfill within a tunnel), and another substituted (e.g., a liner is installed) using the same interface, then large initial stresses may appear because the two sides of the interface appear to interpenetrate (because the virtual position of the old object has changed with respect to the specified position of the new object).
The stored displacements associated with a particular interface s may be multiplied by a factor f, using the keyword displacement-small. Normally, this factor will be zero, thus restoring the virtual positions of the faces comprising the interface “host” to their original locations. In this case, a new interacting object will not cause initial stresses to be generated when its coordinates match the original coordinates of the interface host faces. However, it is possible to give f a nonzero value, in order to simulate an initial lack-of-fit between the two contacting objects.
The command changes the virtual positions in the interface, and in the two faces that are in contact. However, for a newly created interface, the “target” face is not found until cycling has begun. Therefore, for all positions to be reset, at least one cycle should be executed before giving the command if the target (i.e., the face without the interface elements) has some existing deformation.
- extra i a[interfacenodeblock]
 Set the extra interface node variable value for array index i.
- group s <keyword>
 Add group name s to the interface nodes in the range. Use of the group logic is described in Groups. This command may take the form
zone interface node"slotname = groupname" — quotation marks required, spaces at equals sign ignored — where slotname is the slot assignment and groupname is the group name.An interface node may belong to many groups in different slots, up to a maximum of 128. The group range element can be used to select objects by group name.
The following optional keywords are available:
- remove
 Remove s from interface nodes. If a slot is not specified, the group name is removed from all slots it is found in.
- history <name sn >keyword
 Interface variables can be sampled for interface s at the interface node specified. See the
zone historycommand. Note that this command does not take a following range. The following keywords are defined:- displacement-normal keyword
 normal displacement (positive values indicate increased penetration).
- displacement-shear keyword
 shear displacement magnitude
- stress-normal keywrd
 normal stress (Compressive stresses are positive)
- initialize-stresses
 Initializes the normal and shear forces on all interface nodes in the range and in contact with a surface face. The values of the forces are determined by the tractions on the host face of the node. This means that if zone stresses are initialized, then interface forces can be initialized to be approximately compatible, thus reducing the amount of cycling to reach initial equilibrium.
Note that since normal stress is determined by absolute penetration, initialization of normal stresses is accomplished by setting the stress-normal-increment value for each node affected.
- list keyword
 List information about interface nodes in the range.
- displacement
 The accumulated displacement, shear displacement, and small-strain displacement of the nodes.
- host
 The host zone face, and the weighting values used for the attachment.
- information
 The position, normal direction, and effective area (in 3D) or length (in 2D), and contact tolerance.
- property keyword
 The value of interface properties at the nodes. The available property names are:
- bonded-slip
 flag indicating if slip is allowed.
- cohesion
 cohesion in units of stress
- cohesion-residual
 residual cohesion. If assigned a value greater than or equal to zero, this value is assigned to cohesion after frictional shear failure.
- dilation
 dilation in degrees
- displacement-zero-dilation
 value of shear displacement (in units of length) at which the dilation becomes zero.
- friction
 friction in degrees
- friction-residual
 residual friction. If assigned a value greater than or equal to zero, this value is assigned to friction after frictional shear failure.
- shear-bond-ratio
 shear bond strength as a ratio of the tensile strength.
- stiffness-normal
 normal stiffness in units of stress over displacement.
- stiffness-shear
 shear stiffness in units of stress over displacement.
- tension
 tensile strength in units of stress
- tension-residual
 residual tensile strength. If assigned a value greater than or equal to zero, this value is assigned to tension after frictional shear failure.
- state
 current state of the interface node
- stress
 shear and normal stresses and shear stress direction
- target
 target face information including penetration
- velocity
 velocity at nodes
- stress-shear v [interfacenodeblock]
 sets the incremental shear stress v for all interface nodes in the range.
- stress-normal-increment f [interfacenodeblock]
 Sets the normal stress increment to f for all interface nodes in the range. Note that compressive stresses are positive. The normal stress increment is added to the normal stress calculated from interface penetration.
- property keyword ...
 Assigns one or more new property values to all interface nodes in the range.
- bonded-slip b
 Slip is allowed, or not allowed, for a bonded interface segment. Default is off (i.e., slip is not allowed if bond is intact). This is only applicable if a bonded interface is specified (tension is set).
- cohesion f [interfacenodeblock]
 cohesion [stress]
- cohesion-residual f [interfacenodeblock]
 residual cohesion [stress]. If a value greater than of equal to zero is specified, this value is assigned to cohesion after frictional shear failure. Default is -1.0.
- displacement-zero-dilation
 if shear displacement reaches this value [in length unit, default value is infinity], the dilation becomes zero.
- dilation
 dilation angle [degrees]
- friction f [interfacenodeblock]
 friction angle [degrees]
- friction-residual f [interfacenodeblock]
 residual friction angle [degrees]. If a value greater than of equal to zero is specified, this value is assigned to friction after frictional shear failure. Default is -1.0.
- shear-bond-ratio f [interfacenodeblock]
 The shear bond strength is set to sbr times the normal bond strength (tension). Note that giving sbratio alone does not cause a bond to be established; the tensile bond strength must also be set. The default value for sbratio is 100 (i.e., shear bond is 100 times tensile bond). This is only applicable if a bonded interface is specified (tension is set).
- stiffness-normal f [interfacenodeblock]
 normal stiffness [stress/displacement]
- stiffness-shear f [interfacenodeblock]
 shear stiffness [stress/displacement]
- tension f [interfacenodeblock]
 tensile strength [stress]
- tension-residual f [interfacenodeblock]
 residual tensile strength [stress]. If a value greater than of equal to zero is specified, this value is assigned to tension after frictional shear failure. Default is -1.0.
- update b <range>
 This command prevents the search for new contacts after movement occurs on an interface. The same contacts are preserved, whatever the magnitude of displacement. Use with caution, because physically unrealistic behavior can result if displacements are large. The default behavior is on, which allows normal searching for new and broken contacts.
zone interface node Keyword Block
The following keywords may be used to modify a supplied value. If the description of the modifier keyword mentions what type of value it may be applied to (e.g. scalar value, vector value, etc.), be sure there is a match between the modifier and the main keyword value.  The commands main keywords are: extra, stress-normal-increment and stress-shear. cohesion, cohesion-residual, friction, friction-residual, shear-bond-ratio, stiffness-normal, stiffness-shear, tension and tension-residual.
- add
 Add the specified value to the existing value.
- gradient v <origin v >
 Apply a gradient to the scalar-value provided. Note the
originkeyword is optional, however, the default value (0,0,0) is used if theoriginkeyword is not included in the command — which may not produce the intended result.
- multiply
 Multiply the existing value by the specified value.
- vary v
 Apply a linear variation to the scalar-value provided.
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