A survey of numerical methods for hemivariational inequalities with applications to contact mechanics

Abstract

In this paper we present an abstract nonsmooth optimization problem for which we recall existence and uniqueness results. We show a numerical scheme to approximate its solution. The theory is later applied to a sample static contact problem that describes an elastic body in frictional contact with a foundation. This problem leads to a hemivariational inequality which we solve numerically. Finally, we compare three computational methods of solving contact mechanical problems: the direct optimization method, the augmented Lagrangian method and the primal–dual active set strategy.