A mortar method for energy‐momentum conserving schemes in frictionless dynamic contact problems

In the present work the mortar method is applied to planar large deformation contact problems without friction. In particular, the proposed form of the mortar contact constraints is invariant under translations and rotations. These invariance properties lay the foundation for the design of energy‐momentum time‐stepping schemes for contact–impact problems. The iterative solution procedure is embedded into an active set algorithm. Lagrange multipliers are used to enforce the mortar contact constraints. The solution of generalized saddle point systems is circumvented by applying the discrete null space method. Numerical examples demonstrate the robustness and enhanced numerical stability of the newly developed energy‐momentum scheme. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.