Applicability domain of internal cylindrical contact force models

•Cylindrical contact force models are assessed for different contact conditions.•The influence of contact models on the dynamics of a multibody system is analyzed.•Contact models using variables with no practical application are analyzed.•Some contact models underestimate the contact forces.•A cylindrical contact force model free of validity domain problems is presented.

The ability and suitability of actual cylindrical contact force models to describe the contact between bodies with cylindrical geometries with particular focus on internal contact geometries involving low clearances and high loads simultaneously are discussed in this paper. A comparative assessment of the performance of each model under analysis for different contact conditions, in particular for very different penetration and clearance values, is presented as well as the influence of different contact models on the dynamic response of a multibody system. It is demonstrated that some models represent a rough approximation describing the conformal contact between cylindrical geometries because contact forces are underestimated.