Adaptive numerical simulation of contact problems

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with the space discretization of static and the space and time discretization of dynamic contact problems. In particular, we derive a new efficient and reliable residual-type a posteriori error estimator for static contact problems and a new space-time connecting discretization scheme for dynamic contact problems in linear elasticity. The methods enable the efficient resolution of local effects at the contact boundary in space and time. <br /> Firstly, we prove efficiency and reliability of the new residual-type a posteriori error estimator for the case of simplicial meshes. Several numerical examples in the two- and three-dimensional case show the performance of the residual-type a posteriori error estimator for simplicial and even for non-simplicial meshes. <br /> Secondly, for the discretization in time, we present a new method which allows to implicitly compute the local impact times of each node without decreasing the time step size. As it turns out this method gives rise to a generalization of the Newmark scheme which takes into account the local impact times without additional computational effort.