Coupling a NURBS contact interface with a higher order finite element discretization for contact problems using the mortar method

• Published in: Computational mechanics Vol. 63; no. 6; pp. 1203 - 1222
• Main Authors: Otto, Peter, De Lorenzis, Laura, Unger, Jörg F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-06-2019; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Classical and Continuum Physics; Computational Science and Engineering; Deformation; Discretization; Engineering; Finite element method; Mathematical analysis; Mesh generation; Mortars (material); Original Paper; Segmentation; Theoretical and Applied Mechanics; Isogeometric analysis; Spectral element method; Mortar methods; Contact mechanics
• ISSN: 0178-7675; 1432-0924
• DOI: 10.1007/s00466-018-1645-y

In this paper, a contact problem between two bodies, discretized by finite elements, is solved by adding an auxiliary NURBS layer between the bodies. The advantages of a smooth contact formulation in a NURBS approach are combined with simple mesh generation procedures for the bodies discretized with finite elements. Mesh tying conditions are used to couple the NURBS layer with the finite element discretization. The NURBS layer is the master side for contact and mesh tying. Mesh tying is enforced either using pointwise or mortar type approaches. Frictionless 2D and 3D contact problems are considered using small deformations. The contact problem is discretized with the mortar method and a penalty approach is used to enforce the contact constraints. A robust element-based quadrature is applied for mortar tying and contact discretizations, thus avoiding computationally expensive segmentation.