A solution method for static and dynamic analysis of three-dimensional contact problems with friction

Abstract A solution method is presented for the analysis of contact between two (or more) three-dimensional bodies. The surfaces of the contacting bodies are discretized using quadrilateral surface segments. A Lagrange multiplier technique is employed to impose that, in the contact area, the surface displacements of the contacting bodies are compatible with each other. Distributed contact tractions over the surface segments are calculated from the externally applied forces, inertia forces and internal element stresses. Using the segment tractions, Coulomb's law of friction is enforced in a global sense over each surface segment. The time integration of dynamic response is performed using the Newmark method with parameters δ = 1 2 and α = 1 2 . Using these parameters the energy and momentum balance criteria for the contacting bodies are satisfied accurately when a reasonably small time step is used. The applicability of the algorithm is illustrated by selected sample numerical solutions to static and dynamic contact problems.