2013 International Conference on Mechatronic Sciences, Electric Engineering and Computer (MEC)

Dec 20-22, 2013, Shenyang, China

The Finite Element Analysis on the Stress Field of

Contacts for Electrical Connectors

Luo Yanyan, Liu Xinwei*, Wang Yijun, Liu Lei, Ma Zhenping, Zheng Shumei, Wang Zhen
Province-Ministry Joint Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Field and Electrical Apparatus Reliability
Hebei University of Technology
Tianjin,China
e-mail: [email protected]
*Corresponding Author: Liu Xinwei

Abstract—In this paper, the distribution of stress field of manufacturing, national defense, materials processing,
contacts for electrical connectors was studied. The finite element aerospace, marine, automotive, railway, energy, etc [3-7]. In
analysis models were established based on the structural-thermal this paper, the numerical analysis is made on the stress field of
analysis of them. With the consideration to the interference fit of contacts for a certain type of electrical connectors at different
the contacts in service, the three-dimensional solid model was ambient temperatures by ANSYS.
imposed by the reasonable loads and boundary conditions and
analyzed by ANSYS contact analysis module. The numerical
analysis was made on the stress field of contacts for a certain type II. ANALYSIS ON STRESS FIELD OF CONTACTS
of electrical connectors at different ambient temperatures; and This paper focuses on the initial contact pressure of the
the results were analyzed. It can be seen that as the ambient contacts for a certain type of circular electrical connectors at
temperature increases, the maximum Von Mises stress and the ambient temperature 20Υ and non-working state and the finite
maximum deformation of the jack increases. The Von Mises
element analysis of contacts at different ambient temperatures.
Stress of jack is roughly divided into three parts. The maximum
stress appears at about the contact surface near the bottom of slit
The analysis on stress field of the contacts mainly includes the
which is probably the weakest point. followings.

Keywords—finite element models; electrical connectors; stress A. Generation of Finite Element Model
field; ANSYS; contact pressure
1) Solid Model
In order to meet the calculation accuracy requirements as
I. INTRODUCTION (Heading 1) well as to improve the calculation speed, appropriate
The electric connector is used for connecting conductors simplifications are made during the modeling process: ignoring
and corresponding components to switch circuits on and off. some of details section such as the chamfer of the contacts and
The electric connector is essential for various modern advanced the smaller diameter boss; the threaded portion is replaced with
technical systems as well electrical systems for both military a smooth surface; considering the contact portion of the pin and
use and civil use. The quality and reliability of electric jack. The following figures just show the 1/4 contact solid
connectors causes direct impact on performances of electrical model.
and electronic equipment as well as the safety of naval vessels,
aircrafts, weapon systems and industrial control systems [1-2]. 2) Material Properties
The material properties of the electric connector model are
The electrical connectors mainly include shell, insulator
defined when conducting the stress analysis (see TABLE I ).
and contacts. The contacts are the core parts of electrical
connectors. The contact reliability of contacts directly depends
on the stability of contact pressure between the pin and jack. TABLE I. MATERIAL PROPERTIES OF CONTACTS
The jack is a kind of elastic component which will shrinkage or Coefficient of
swell with temperature changes. Due to the external constraints, Thermal Elastic Linear
such expansion or contraction does not take place freely, Poisson's Expansion
Composition Conductivity Modulus
[KW/(m2 ˜ ć)] D
Ratio
resulting in internal stress, called thermal stress. Therefore, the [GP]
stress relaxation phenomenon will appear in electrical [/10-6ć]
connectors, which causes decreases of the contact pressure pin Brass 108.9 97 0.324 16.8
between the pin and jack, leading to poor contact, even contact
failure. jack Bronze 83.7 103 0.3 17.9

At present, the finite element method is widely used for the

numerical simulation study of stress field in machine 3) Mesh generation
National Natural Science Foundation of China (51107028, 51171056),
Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province (E2011202057)

978-1-4799-2565-0/13/$31.00 ©2013 IEEE 3317

 Considering the complexity of the 3D solid model of the
contacts, the Free Smart Mesh is utilized for the mesh
generation of the model, using three-dimensional 20-node
solid element SOLID98. The completed finite element model is
as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 2. Cloud image of Von Mises stress field distribution for contacts

Fig. 1. The finite element model of contacts

B. Analysis and Resolution

The contact problem of electrical connector is a highly
nonlinear behavior, using ANSYS contact analysis module and
selecting point - surface contact way to simulate the initial
contact pressure of contacts for electrical connectors at 20Υ
and non-working state.
The inner surface of the jack is selected as target surface,
the outer surface of the pin is contact surface. The strengthen
Lagrangian algorithm is adopted, and the FKN is set to 0.1 to
Fig. 3. Cloud image of stress field distribution on the longitudinal section
avoid excessive number of iterations. in two slits midline of the jack

III. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

A. The Results at 20Υ and 1on-working State

The cloud images of stress field of contacts at 20ć and
non-working state are shown in Fig.2 - Fig.8. Ambient
temperature 20ć and non-working state means that the
electrical connectors is not energized, the results show the
initial interference fit of contacts.
Fig. 2 shows that on the outer surface of the jack, the stress
field is divided into four parts by the four slits which have
basically the same distribution: the stress field looks like
double-flame-shaped and symmetrically distributes about the
two slits midline. Stress value decreases gradually from the
midline to the slit. Along the midline, the stress appears at
about 1/4 of jack from the top. As the distance from the top of
Fig. 4. Cloud image of Von Mises stress field distribution for the internal
jack increases, the Von Mises Stress gradually increases until surface of the jack
reaches a maximum at 3/4 of jack away from the top. Then the
Von Mises Stressgradually decreases, and reduces to zero at Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 show that on the inner surface of jack, the
4/5 of jack from the top. Von Mises Stress symmetrically distributes on each slit and
FrRm Fig. 3, it can be seen that on the longitudinal section looks like double-flame-shaped. On the longitudinal section at
in two slits midline of the jack, the Von Mises Stress gradually the slit of the jack, the Von Mises Stress decreases outward
reduces from outer surface to inner surface. from the interior. Along the slit, the stress increases gradually

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from 0 to the maximum about at the bottom of the slit, and then
gradually decreases.

Fig. 8. Cloud image of contact pressure distribution on the contact

surface of pins

Fig. 5. Cloud image of stress field distribution on the longitudinal section Fig. 6 is the cloud image of stress field distribution on the
at the slit of the jack cross-section at the bottom of slits of the jack. The Von Mises
Stress is roughly divided into three parts:stress concentration
zone, 0 stress zone and stress gradient zone. Stress
concentration zone has four parts, they symmetrically distribute
around the jack center; and each part roughly trapezoidal
distributes along the radial direction at the bottom of the slit.
The maximum stress appears at about the contact surface near
the bottom of slit. This is because the stress originally
distributed in the notch part is forced to go around the slit due
to the slit, so that near the slit, more and more stress
concentrates. Along the bottom of the slit, the stress decreases
outward from the interior.
From Fig. 7, it can be seen that the jack is flexible, i.e.
deformable. The maximum displacement is 0.187158mm at the
top of the jack. From the top to the bottom, the displacement
value gradually decreases, and the rate of displacement
reduction also gradually decreases. At about the bottom of the
slit, the displacement decreases to zero. And the pin almost has
Fig. 6. Cloud image of stress field distribution on the cross-section at the
bottom of slits of the jack
no deformation, which corresponds with the actual situation.
Fig. 8 is the cloud image of contact pressure distribution on
the contact surface of pins. Four separate regions of the same
shape are formed on the contact surface. For each region, the
contact pressure distributes into a six side flat ring, the
maximum contact pressure appears near the contact surface
between the top of jack and the pin, is about 6.5MP.

B. Comparative $nalysis of5esults at 'ifferent $mbient

7emperatures
In order to accurately analyze the factors that impact on the
contact pressure distribution of electrical connectors, this paper
simulates the stress of contacts at ambient temperature 20Υ,
55Υ, 70Υ, 85Υ, 105Υ and 125Υ. The values of the contact
pressure are shown in Table II. The maximum Von Mises
stress and deformation are shown in Table III.
It can be seen from Table II that, as the ambient
Fig. 7. Cloud image of the overall deformation distribution for contacts temperature rises, the contact pressure gradually decreases.

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When the temperature reaches 125 Υ , the contact pressure x At different ambient temperature, the contact pressure
decreases 16.40% . distribution of contacts for electrical connectors is
substantially the same.
TABLE II. THE CONTACT PRESSURE AT DIFFERENT AMBIENT x As the ambient temperature increases, the contact
TEMPERATURES
pressure decreases, the maximum Von Mises stress
Ambient Temperature Contact Pressure Relative Ratio increases and the maximum deformation of the jack
[ć] [MP] [%] increases. The reduced contact pressure will lead to the
20 6.500 — increase of the contact resistance, until the sufficient
variation of the contact resistance reaches to lead to the
55 6.393 1.65
failure of electrical connectors.
70 5.897 9.28
x The Von Mises Stress of jack is roughly divided into
85 5.888 9.42 three parts: stress concentration zone, 0 stress zone and
105 5.628 13.42 stress gradient zone. The maximum stress appears at
about the contact surface near the bottom of slit which
125 5.434 16.40 is probably the weakest point.
TABLE III. MAXIMUM VON MISES STRESS AND DEFORMATION OF JACK
AT DIFFERENT AMBIENT TEMPERATURES ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Ambient Maximum National Natural Science Foundation of China (51107028),
Deformation National Natural Science Foundation of China (51171056) and
temperature Von Mises stress
(mm)
(ć) (MP) Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province (E2011202057)
20 706.452 0.187158 supported the research all the way.
55 406.518 0.187753
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