A primal-dual active set algorithm for three-dimensional contact problems with coulomb friction

International audienceIn this paper, efficient algorithms for contact problems with Tresca and Coulomb friction in three dimensions are presented and analyzed. The numerical approximation is based on mortar methods for nonconforming meshes with dual Lagrange multipliers. Using a nonsmooth com-plementarity function for the three-dimensional friction conditions, a primal-dual active set algorithm is derived. The method determines active contact and friction nodes and, at the same time, resolves the additional nonlinearity originating from sliding nodes. No regularization and no penalization are applied, and superlinear convergence can be observed locally. In combination with a multigrid method, it defines a robust and fast strategy for contact problems with Tresca or Coulomb friction. The efficiency and flexibility of the method is illustrated by several numerical examples

Generalized Newton methods for the 2D-Signorini contact problem with friction in function space

International audienceThe 2D-Signorini contact problem with Tresca and Coulomb friction is discussed in infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces. First, the problem with given friction (Tresca friction) is considered. It leads to a constraint non-differentiable minimization problem. By means of the Fenchel duality theorem this problem can be transformed into a constrained minimization involving a smooth functional. A regularization technique for the dual problem motivated by augmented Lagrangians allows to apply an infinite-dimensional semi-smooth Newton method for the solution of the problem with given friction. The resulting algorithm is locally superlinearly convergent and can be interpreted as active set strategy. Combining the method with an augmented Lagrangian method leads to convergence of the iterates to the solution of the original problem. Comprehensive numerical tests discuss, among others, the dependence of the algorithm's performance on material and regularization parameters and on the mesh. The remarkable efficiency of the method carries over to the Signorini problem with Coulomb friction by means of fixed point ideas

Semi-smooth Newton method for solving 2D contact problems with Tresca and Coulomb friction

The contribution deals with contact problems for two elastic bodies with friction. After the description of the problem we present its discretization based on linear or bilinear finite elements. The semi--smooth Newton method is used to find the solution, from which we derive active sets algorithms. Finally, we arrive at the globally convergent dual implementation of the algorithms in terms of the Langrange multipliers for the Tresca problem. Numerical experiments conclude the paper

Isogeometric dual mortar methods for computational contact mechanics

International audienceIn recent years, isogeometric analysis (IGA) has received great attention in many fields of computational mechanics research. Especially for computational contact mechanics, an exact and smooth surface representation is highly desirable. As a consequence, many well-known finite e lement m ethods a nd a lgorithms f or c ontact m echanics h ave b een t ransferred t o I GA. I n t he present contribution, the so-called dual mortar method is investigated for both contact mechanics and classical domain decomposition using NURBS basis functions. In contrast to standard mortar methods, the use of dual basis functions for the Lagrange multiplier based on the mathematical concept of biorthogonality enables an easy elimination of the additional Lagrange multiplier degrees of freedom from the global system. This condensed system is smaller in size, and no longer of saddle point type but positive definite. A very simple and commonly used element-wise construction of the dual basis functions is directly transferred to the IGA case. The resulting Lagrange multiplier interpolation satisfies discrete inf–sup stability and biorthogonality, however, the reproduction order is limited to one. In the domain decomposition case, this results in a limitation of the spatial convergence order to O(h 3 /2) in the energy norm, whereas for unilateral contact, due to the lower regularity of the solution, optimal convergence rates are still met. Numerical examples are presented that illustrate these theoretical considerations on convergence rates and compare the newly developed isogeometric dual mortar contact formulation with its standard mortar counterpart as well as classical finite elements based on first and second order Lagrange polynomials

Semi-smooth Newton methods for mixed FEM discretizations of higher-order for frictional, elasto-plastic two-body contact problems

International audienceIn this article a semi-smooth Newton method for frictional two-body contact problems and a solution algorithm for the resulting sequence of linear systems are presented. It is based on a mixed variational formulation of the problem and a discretization by finite elements of higher-order. General friction laws depending on the normal stresses and elasto-plastic material behavior with linear isotropic hardening are considered. Numerical results show the efficiency of the presented algorithm

Solving variational inequalities and cone complementarity problems in nonsmooth dynamics using the alternating direction method of multipliers

This work presents a numerical method for the solution of variational inequalities arising in nonsmooth flexible multibody problems that involve set-valued forces. For the special case of hard frictional contacts, the method solves a second order cone complementarity problem. We ground our algorithm on the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM), an efficient and robust optimization method that draws on few computational primitives. In order to improve computational performance, we reformulated the original ADMM scheme in order to exploit the sparsity of constraint jacobians and we added optimizations such as warm starting and adaptive step scaling. The proposed method can be used in scenarios that pose major difficulties to other methods available in literature for complementarity in contact dynamics, namely when using very stiff finite elements and when simulating articulated mechanisms with odd mass ratios. The method can have applications in the fields of robotics, vehicle dynamics, virtual reality, and multiphysics simulation in general

A mixed formulation of mortar-based contact with friction

Cataloged from PDF version of article.A classical three-field mixed variational formulation of frictionless contact is extended to the frictional regime. The construction of the variational framework with respect to a curvilinear coordinate system naturally induces projected mortar counterparts of tangential kinetic and kinematic quantities while automatically satisfying incremental objectivity of the associated discrete penalty-regularized mortar constraints. Mixed contact variables that contribute to the boundary value problem are then obtained through unconstrained, lumped or constrained recoveiy approaches, complemented by Uzawa augmentations. Patch tests and surface locking studies are presented together with local and global quality monitors of the contact interactions in two- and three-dimensional settings at the infinitesimal and finite deformation regimes. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

An interior point method for isogeometric contact

Cataloged from PDF version of article.. The interior point method is applied to frictionless contact mechanics problems and is shown to be a viable alternative to the augmented Lagrangian approach. The method is derived from a mixed formulation which induces a contact discretization scheme in the spirit of the mortar method and naturally delivers slack variables that help constrain the solution to the feasible region. The derivation of the algorithm as well as its robustness benefits from the contact interface description that is induced by NURBS-based isogeometric volume discretizations. Various interior point algorithms are discussed, including a primal dual approach that satisfies the unilateral contact constraints exactly, in addition to two primal approaches that retain an arbitrary barrier parameter. The developed algorithms can easily be pursued starting from an augmented Lagrangian implementation. Numerical investigations on benchmark problems demonstrate the efficiency and the robustness of the framework, but also highlight current limitations that suggest paths for future research. Overall, the results indicate that the interior point method can challenge the augmented Lagrangian method in contact mechanics, even displaying potential for higher efficiency and robustness. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved