C.L. Bottasso, L. Trainelli

Implementation of Effective Procedures for Unilateral Contact Modeling in Multibody Dynamics

Mechanics Research Communications, 28: 233-246 (2001).

Abstract

The paper discusses the treatment of general contact/impact problems in multibody mechanical systems, with particular attention to the implementation of such procedures in commercial codes. We describe a unilateral contact model based on a flexible parameterization of the contacting surfaces, a geometrical minimum distance problem and a constitutive model of the interaction forces. The resulting numerical procedures are demonstrated by means of examples.