A perturbed Lagrangian formulation for the finite element solution of contact problems

authored by

Juan C. Simo, Peter Wriggers, Robert L. Taylor

Abstract

Making use of a perturbed Lagrangian formulation, a finite element procedure for contact problems is developed for the general case in which node-to-node contact no longer holds. The proposed procedure leads naturally to a discretization of the contact interface into contact segments. Within the context of a bilinear interpolation for the displacement field, a mixed finite element approximation is introduced by assuming discontinuous contact pressure, constant on the contact segment. Because of this piece-wise constant approximation, the gap function enters into the formulation in an 'average' sense instead of through a point-wise definition. Numerical examples are presented that illustrate the performance of the proposed procedure.

External Organisation(s)

University of California at Berkeley

Type

Article

Journal

Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering

Volume

50

Pages

163-180

No. of pages

18

ISSN

0045-7825

Publication date

08.1985

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Computational Mechanics, Mechanics of Materials, Mechanical Engineering, General Physics and Astronomy, Computer Science Applications

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1016/0045-7825(85)90088-X (Access: Unknown)