Finite element discretization of a nonlinear thermoelastic beam model with penalized unilateral contact

Abstract

We consider the steady case of a nonlinear model for a thermoelastic beam that can enter in contact with obstacles via a penalization term. We first prove the well-posedness of this problem. Next, we propose a finite element discretization and perform the a priori and a posteriori analysis of the discrete problem. Some numerical experiments confirm the interest of this approach.