Stress-penalty method for unilateral contact problems: mathematical formulation and computational aspects

Abstract

The unilaterality of non penetration constraints, the velocity jumps which occur in case of collisions, the irregularity of the law of dry friction are 'nonsmooth features of the dynamical systems in view. Numerical methods are presented, which face nonsmoothness without resorting to mollifying approximation procedures. A careful formulation of contact laws generates algorihms which, at every step of the time discretization, are ready to face possible collisions on the same footing as permanent contacts