International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering · 2002 · 56 citations · 23 references
EngineeringComputational EngineeringMechanical EngineeringComputational MechanicsFinite Element AnalysisFinite Element MethodsContact AnalysisContact DynamicsContact MechanicsFinite Element FormulationMultibody DynamicsSolid Mechanics ApplicationsContact Force DistributionContact Force ModelingContact PatchContact Patch AnalysisDiscrete ModelsLagrange MultipliersMulti-body Contact AnalysisNodal Equations
Abstract The non‐penetration condition in contact problems is traditionally based on the classical Lagrange multiplier method. This method makes extensive use of modelling details of the contacting bodies for contact enforcement as the contact surface meshes are in general non‐matching. To deal with this problem we introduce a novel element in the Lagrange multiplier approach of contact modelling, namely, a contact frame placed in between contacting bodies. It acts as a medium through which contact forces are transferred without violating equilibrium in the contact domain for discrete contact models. Only nodal information of the contacting bodies is required which makes the proposed contact enforcement generic. The contact frame has its own independent freedoms, which allows the formulation to pass contact patch tests by design. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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