Check this example, it’s exactly what you are looking for: Soda_Can_Buckling · main · Matej Borovinšek / PrePoMax Models · GitLab
But in short words:
- normally, explicit dynamics procedure would be perfect for that, but it’s highly underdeveloped, limited and very slow in CalculiX
- implicit dynamics procedure in CalculiX often struggles with convergence so I would just use the static step (assuming it’s a quasi-static problem anyway)
- self-contact is handled by just selecting the same surface as master and slave in a contact pair (there are a few discussions about this approach on the CalculiX forum)
- if you want to try OpenRadioss at some point, there is a converter from CalculiX’s .inp: Tools/input_converters/inp2rad at main · OpenRadioss/Tools · GitHub
- normally, shell elements would be the best choice for the thin-walled can, but they have many limitations in CalculiX (see this: Known CalculiX limitations) so converting them to solids with the Thicken Shell Mesh tool might be a good idea
- as you can see in the attached example, the usual way to model such nonlinear buckling problems is to use a mesh with an imperfection (e.g. from a linear buckling analysis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq2mKRZmIsQ)