Abstract
This paper is concerned with the effects of the piecewise approximation of the geometry of contacting solids, in which a discontinuity of the normal outward boundary vector is, in general, implied. This discontinuity is shown to be of particular relevance when contact takes place on a curved surface, and sliding occurs. Only load-independent receding contact problems are considered. The behaviour of a sliding contact zone having a corner inside is investigated first, by means of a particular problem. Then, it is shown that using curved elements, a meshing refinement process can reduce the effects of unreal corners, whereas discretizations based on flat elements may produce unacceptable results regardless of the performed meshing refinement. Chances to overcome this drawback are recognized for some special flat boundary elements, but others are to be discarded for these kinds of problems. A parameter to quantify the error due to unreal stress concentrations is proposed. Two-dimensional examples discretized using boundary elements are presented for illustration purposes. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Published Version
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