A solution method for general contact-impact problems

In this paper, a solution method is presented for the analysis of contact/impact between deformable bodies. The method is different from Lagrange multipliers and Penalty methods. Having defined a body as contactor and the other as target, it is assumed that contact forces are developed between contactor nodes and target surface. The method is based on stiffness transformation and eliminating the normal degree of freedom of contactor node. The method is absolutely general and can be used in static and dynamic nonlinear problems. All the drawbacks of Lagrange multipliers and Penalty method are vanished in this technique and it can be easily implemented in computer programs. The efficiency and applicability of the method is demonstrated by several illustrative examples. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.