A parametric knot adaptation approach to isogeometric analysis of contact problems

Abstract

In this paper, an adaptive approach is presented to deal with isogeometric analysis of contact problems. Suggestion of an isogeometric adaptive refinement strategy for contact problems is the subject of this paper. Refinements are performed near the boundaries of the contact zone with insertion of new knots in the parametric domain. The performance and efficiency of the method are demonstrated via four examples, i.e., the Hertz problem and three hyperelastic contact problems. The obtained results are compared with solutions of very fine computational models. The proposed approach shows good convergence not only for the contact pressure but also for the contact zone limits. Another advantage of the method is eliminating the need for a priori guess of the contact zone limits.