| Abstract: | This article proposes a new three‐dimensional contact finite element which employs continuous and weakly coupled pressure interpolations on each of the interacting boundaries. The resulting formulation circumvents the geometric bias of one‐pass methods, as well as the surface locking of traditional two‐pass node‐on‐surface methods. A Lagrange multiplier implementation of the proposed element is validated for frictionless quasi‐static contact by a series of numerical simulations. Published in 2001 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
