Independent Meshing of Contact Surfaces in 3D Boundary Element Method Contact Analysis

Abstract

This paper deals with the development of two new boundary element algorithms for solving 3D, frictional, and linear elastostatic contact problems. The main contribution of this research is that solving 3D boundary element models with nonconforming discretizations becomes possible for the first time by using the proposed algorithms. The new algorithms provide the contact constraint equations that will be added to the underdetermined linear system of equations. These algorithms are implemented in a new 3D boundary element code using C++ and verified using several numerical examples. For the models studied, the results using the new boundary element algorithms match well with the finite element results and clearly demonstrate the feasibility of the new boundary element approach for 3D contact analysis.