## 1 Introduction
[51] and other scholars reviewed and presented several forms of computer software available to researchers for the analysis of electrical contacts and their behavior, with MSC Marc, ANSYS, ABAQUS and COMSOL being the most used ones as subsequently detailed:  
1. MSC Marc software was used in [52] to create the model of an electric contact and compute the temperature distribution of joule heating compared with experimental results. The performance of pin and socket electrical contacts was assessed in [53] using a computer model also developed in MSC Marc software and numerical simulation;
2. ANSYS was used by [PERSON] et al. [54] to develop a coupled mechanical-electrical-thermal model, in order to prove the relation between electric contact shrink range, contact resistance and maximum stress, while also considering the temperature. The authors of [55] proposed a multi-physics model developed in ANSYS to investigate the thermal behavior of an electrical contact with a rough surface in two scenarios--direct and load transfer. The model developed and introduced in [56] combines ANSYS with a MATLAB code to accurately predict the contact forces, thermal contact resistance, surface separation and ECR, and provide an efficient tool to study electrical contact behavior from electrical, thermal and structural perspectives;3. The ABAQUS and FE-SAFE software types are both used [57] to numerically investigate and assess in detail the behavior of aviation electrical contacts. The authors of [58] used an ABAQUS-developed thermal-electric coupled simulation to study the contact pair insertion force and obtain the contact resistance. An analysis was conducted using a new electro-thermo-mechanical contact model developed by [59] in ABAQUS and two user-defined subroutines to show how the contact state significantly influences the local heating; 4. Finally, the Swedish COMSOL Multiphysics software was used by [PERSON] et al. [60] to introduce a new fluid-solid heat transfer model coupled with contact mechanics and the thermo-electric effect, in order to highlight the importance of pressure to the failure of an electrical contact. Another COMSOL-developed model was proposed in [61] to conduct research on contact temperature characteristics and thus improve the performance of electrical contacts. The authors of [62] investigated, by simulation in COMSOL, the effects of the electric current and contact force on the temperature and resistance of a spring-type electrical contact. However, regardless of the method applied or the software, used all have both limitations and advantages, so at this point there is no imposed standard requiring that a particular computer program or method of analysis be used. Taking this into consideration, given the extensive literature review pointing to the available software tools, and considering the experience and previous approaches [63; 64; 65; 66] of the same research team involved in solving various engineering tasks using numeric simulation, in the present study, COMSOL software [67] was chosen for the analysis and SolidWorks for the creation of the geometric model. Although it is obvious that there is a vast amount of research on electrical contacts using various approaches and techniques, as described and summarized in the literature review section, the general outcomes of any of these studies--whether they are mechanical, electrical, thermal, or coupled--share a single important common scope: finding the causes leading to electrical contact failures. Regardless of where these contacts are used, and to what currents, contact forces or mechanical stresses they are subjected, it is of utmost importance to fully understand their behavior under different scenarios, in order to improve their performance and avoid the hazards produced by underperforming or failing contacts.