Computational Contact and Impact Mechanics 
Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg GmbH 
Engineering 
ONLlNE LIBRARY 
http://www.springer.de/engine/ 
Tod A.  Laursen 
Computational Contact 
and Impact Mechanics 
Fundamentals of  Modeling Interfacial Phenomena 
in Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis 
1 st ed. 2002, COIT.  2nd printing 
With 147  Figures and 6 Tables 
• 
Springer 
Professor Tod A.  Laursen 
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering 
Pratt School of Engineering 
Duke University 
Box 90287 
Durham, NC  27708-0287 
USA 
ISBN 978-3-662-04864-1  (eBook) 
ISBN 978-3-642-07685-5 
DOl 10.1007/978-3-662-04864-1 
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©  Springer-Verlag  Berlin  Heidelberg  2003 
Originally published by Springer-VerJag Berlin Heidelberg New York in 2003. 
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2003 
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To  my  boys,  Orin and Colin, and to my  wife,  Jennifer 
Preface 
Many  physical  systems  require  the  description  of mechanical  interaction 
across  interfaces  if they  are  to be  successfully  analyzed.  Examples in the 
engineered  world  range from  the design of prosthetics in  biomedical engi
neering  (e.g.,  hip  replacements);  to  characterization  of the  response  and 
durability of head/disk interfaces in computer magnetic storage devices; to 
development  of pneumatic  tires  with  better  handling  characteristics  and 
increased longevity in automotive engineering;  to description of the adhe
sion and/or relative slip between concrete and reinforcing steel in structural 
engineering.  Such mechanical interactions, often called  contact/impact  in
teractions, usually necessitate at minimum the determination of areas over 
which  compressive  pressures  must  act  to  prevent  interpenetration  of the 
mechanical  entities involved.  Depending on  the  application,  frictional  be
havior, transient interaction of interfaces with their surroundings (e.g., in
termittent stick/slip), thermo-mechanical coupling, interaction with an in
tervening  lubricant  and/or fluid  layer,  and  damage  of the  interface  (i.e., 
wear)  may  also  be  featured.  When  taken  together  (or  even  separately!), 
these features have the effect of making the equations of mechanical evolu
tion not only highly nonlinear,  but highly nonsmooth as  well. 
While many modern engineering simulation packages possess impressive 
capabilities in the general area of nonlinear mechanics, it can be contended 
that methodologies typically utilized for  contact interactions are relatively 
immature in comparison to other components of a  nonlinear finite  element 
package, such as large deformation kinematics, inelastic material modeling, 
nonlinear equation  solving,  or  linear  solver  technology.  The result  of this 
situation appears to be that when designers  and analysts  wish to use  "off 
viii 
Preface 
the  shelf'  software  to  characterize  a  contact/impact  system  of  interest, 
they either find the contact capability to be considerably less robust and/or 
accurate than the remainder of the analysis system, or even worse, they find 
available formulations for contact/impact to be inadequate for their needs. 
Much of the reason for this situation can be attributed to a simple truth: 
contact  and friction  problems  are  difficult  to solve,  since  they are  highly 
nonlinear and nonsmooth,  and the machinations required to treat them in 
practice are not always aesthetically pleasing. However, as is often the case 
in computational mechanics, a  successful algorithmic strategy for  a  rather 
specialized  application can usually  be  achieved  if the  engineering  analyst 
and the algorithmic developer have significant shared knowledge of the un
derlying  mathematical structure of the  problem,  of the issues  involved  in 
its computational approximation, and of the physics relevant to the system 
at hand. The situation is  somewhat analogous to that which exists in con
stitutive modeling of materials, where practitioner and developer must use 
the common languages of continuum mechanics and finite element technol
ogy  to develop  a  reliable  computational description of measured  material 
behavior. The success of this collaborative approach, however, depends crit
ically on the existence of a common understanding of the problem at hand, 
which arguably does not exist for contact interactions to the degree it does, 
for example, for computational inelasticity.  It is to the development of this 
common  "knowledge base,"  which will  enable the advancement of interface 
science in computational solid and structural mechanics, that this work is 
dedicated. 
Accordingly, while this book has been conceptualized as a research mono
graph on a  rather specialized subject, it  became clear during its evolution 
that it should also contain a useful introduction to computational nonlinear 
mechanics,  such that a  non-specialist in computational methods could ac
cess the material without the need to consult a multitude of other sources. 
Accordingly, the book proceeds from a rather terse but reasonably detailed 
introductory  treatment  of computational  nonlinear  solid  mechanics;  to a 
thorough  description  of  the  continuum  mechanics,  problem  formulation, 
variational framework,  and finite  element implementation of modern con
tact mechanics algorithms; to a comprehensive presentation of the emerging 
trends  of computational  contact  mechanics,  encompassing  such  topics  as 
tribological  complexity,  thermomechanical  coupling  on  interfaces,  energy
momentum treatment of transient impact  events,  and new  techniques  for 
spatial discretization of contact phenomena. 
I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to several research sponsors, indus
trial and  government  collaborators, faculty  colleagues,  and graduate  stu
dents who have contributed immensely to my understanding of this subject, 
and who in many cases contributed directly to the results presented in this 
book.  In  particular, portions of this  work  were  partially supported by the 
National Science Foundation under grant numbers MSS-9308486 (Research 
Initiation Award)  and CMS-9703356  (Career Award), and by the Office  of 
Preface 
ix 
Naval Research under Young Investigator Award NOOOl4-97-1-0529. These 
funding sources are gratefully acknowledged. Sandia National Laboratories 
funded  aspects  of this  work  under  two  contracts,  AN-9563  and BD-3742, 
and also graciously hosted me for a faculty sabbatical in the spring of 2001, 
during  which  time  some  of the  work  in  Chapter 8 was  fleshed  out in col
laboration with Dr. Martin Heinstein of SNL.  This support, which includes 
as  a  major component Martin's friendship  and continued collaboration, is 
likewise  very  gratefully  acknowledged.  I  would  like  to  recognize  also  the 
collaboration and  assistance  received from  Dr.  Michael  Puso of Lawrence 
Livermore National Laboratory, with whom the three dimensional smooth
ing  algorithms in Chapter 8 were  developed,  and whose  work  contributed 
greatly to the discussion of mortar methods given in that chapter. 
Several  other  collaborators  and  research  sponsors  should  be  acknowl
edged for  similar reasons,  including:  Dr.  Peter Raboin of Lawrence Liver
more National Laboratory; Drs. Harold Morgan, Frank Mello, Sam Key and 
Steven  Attaway of Sandia National Laboratories;  Dr.  Bradley Maker, for
merly of Lawrence Livermore and now at LSTC, Inc.;  Drs. Joop Nagtegaal 
and David Fox of Hibbitt, Karlsson and Sorensen, Inc.;  Dr.  Ric Mousseau, 
formerly  of Ford  Motor  Company  and  now  at  the  University  of Toledo; 
Drs.  John Melson  and Jean-Marc  d'Harcourt  of Michelin  Tire  Company; 
Professors Sanjay Govindjee,  Francisco Armero,  and Robert Taylor of the 
University of California at Berkeley; Dr. Todd McDevitt, formerly my post 
doctoral colleague at Duke University and currently at MDI,  Inc.;  and Pro
fessors  Lawrence  Virgin,  John Dolbow,  Lori  Setton and Farshid Guilak of 
Duke University.  Current and former students of mine who contributed to 
this  work  include  Drs.  Victor  Oancea,  Vikas  Chawla,  Garrett  Love,  and 
Xiaonong  Meng,  as  well  as  Renuka  Srinivasan,  Vivek  Padmanabhan and 
!linca Stanciulescu-Panea.  I  am particularly proud of and grateful for  the 
contributions of these participants in  my  research group over the past few 
years. 
I am grateful to the administration of my home institution, Duke Univer
sity, for granting my sabbatical during the 2000-2001 academic year, during 
which most of the work on this project was completed. Additionally, I want 
to say a special word of thanks to my family,  Jennifer, Orin, and Colin, for 
their patience and understanding during the many evenings and weekends 
where  my  attention and time  were  devoted to this project rather than to 
other potential family  activities.  I  love  them  and am  proud of them,  and 
they have inspired me  in ways they do  not fully  realize. 
Finally,  I  especially  wish to acknowledge the extraordinary mentorship, 
instruction, and friendship  I received from  the late Juan C.  Simo of Stan
ford  University, from  the time  I first  walked  into  his  office  as  a  beginning 
Master's  student  (looking  for  help  with  indicial  notation!)  in  September 
of  1986,  until  his  untimely  and  tragic  death  from  cancer  in  October  of 
1994.  As  has been extensively documented by many others, Juan's profes
sional genius transformed the manner in which our field thinks about such