A formulation of arbitrarily shaped surface elements for three-dimensional large deformation contact with friction

The paper introduces a general theory for the numerical simulation of large deformation contact problems. The contacting bodies under consideration may be of two- or three-dimensional shape modelled by finite elements. A contact finite element which can be applied to handle multi-body contact as well as contact with rigid bodies is developed. The element is universal in the sense that it can be used as a surface element for any known finite...