Comparison of Different Error Indicators for Contact Problems Involving Large Elastic Strains

Abstract

Finite element methods (FEMs) are flexible tools which can be applied to solve contact problems with arbitrary geometries. As in any numerical method, the solutions obtained with FEM are only approximate. Errors occur e.g. due to the choice of the ansatz space and the approximation of the geometry. In general it is necessary to automatically control the error inherited in the method to obtain reliable solutions. This is especially true in case of non-linear contact problems since geometry and contact surface can change substantially during the deformation process. Thus the refinement process needed for an accurate analysis cannot be controlled by the user beforehand. Here an adaptive FEM is developed for large strain problems of two or more deformable bodies being in contact. The main focus is the comparison of different error indicators and error estimators related to the contact problem. In detail residual based, error estimators, error indicators relying on superconvergence properties and error estimators based on duality principles are investigated. Finally, examples show the convergence behaviour of the error measures.