Special exact curved finite elements (Q1175698)

The author describes a type of curved elements suitable for solving contact problems of the second order in domains \(\Omega\) whose boundaries \(\Gamma\) consist of a finite number of circular arcs and a finite number of line segments. The suggested curved elements, so-called special exact curved finite elements, can be used not only along the boundary \(\Gamma\) but also in the interior of \(\Omega\) and are the natural generalizations of linear elements in the case of boundaries \(\Gamma\) described above.