A simple algorithm for three-dimensional finite element analysis of contact problems

This paper addresses the numerical solution of three-dimensional frictionless contact problems by a finite element method. The two-body contact problem is considered in the context of fully non-linear kinematics. The impenetrability constraint is satisfied via a classical penalty formulation. The contacting surfaces are discretized by means of projections of the interacting element faces onto suitably chosen flat surfaces. Attention is focused on the efficiency of the overall algorithm. Numerical simulations are conducted for a series of test problems to assess the performance of the proposed methodology.