Finite Element Analysis of Contact Problems

A finite element procedure for modeling the interaction of contacting bodies is developed and illustrated. The model is capable of accounting for both slippage and separation of the mating surfaces. In addition, the bond springs, which in certain situations are used in the nonslip model, can be used to capture local deformation phenomena such as edge effects and local deformation caused by asperities, etc. The capabilities of the model for representing reinforced concrete bond, reinforced soil bond, soil structure interaction, and testing machine-sample interaction are considered. Numerical examples are given for modeling of concrete-reinforcement bond, pile-soil interaction, and footing-soil interaction; the results for the first two examples are compared to available experimental results.