Beam Motion With Unilateral Contact Constraints and Wear of Contact Sites

Abstract

In the present paper, a computational algorithm is proposed for the motion of a beam which is constrained by unilateral contact at prescribed contact sites. Special attention is focused on the numerical difficulties arising due to the iteration between the beam equation of motion and the contact algorithm, and a method to overcome these difficulties is suggested. The algorithm also includes wear, and the dynamical properties of the system are allowed to change gradually as the contact sites wear down.