Moving finite element analysis for two-dimensional frictionless contact problems

Abstract

A moving finite element analysis is presented to tackle two-dimensional elastic contact problems with absence of slipping and friction between the contact bodies. In addition to the governing equation, the interface equation is also extracted by application of the principle of minimum potential energy. The interface equation may be used to determine the unknown location of the marginal node separating the non-contact and contact regions. After the described transformation is introduced, nodal points in the finite element mesh are fixed in the transformed plane, although they are in fact traveling within the undeformed geometry in the physical plane. The incremental and uncoupled moving finite element scheme is also presented. Several examples are used to demonstrate the accuracy of the numerical scheme.