The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

A Mixed Formulation for the Finite Element Solution of Contact Problems

Papadopoulos, Panayiotis; Taylor, Robert L.

UCB/SEMM-1990/18, Dept. of Civil Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 1990-09-01, 38 pages (500/C23/90/18)

Presents a finite element algorithm for the static solution of 2-D frictionless contact problems involving bodies undergoing arbitrarily large motions and deformations. A mixed penalty formulation is employed in approximating the resulting variational inequalities. The algorithm is applied to quadratic elements along with a rational scheme for determining the contacting regions. Several numerical simulations illustrate the applicability and accuracy of the proposed solution procedure.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/SEMM/SEMM-90-18.pdf (13 MB)