Unilateral contact. Problem formulation (Q2724399)

Using a simple spring-wall system as a model, the author gives a formulation of the problem of unilateral contact between elastic solids. In particular the author investigates the classical complementarity formulation, the exact and smooth constrained elastic-load energy minimisation, the exact and unconstrained nonsmooth elastic-load-contact energy minimisation, and the smooth and unconstrained approximated elastic-load-penalty energy minimisation problems. For each problem, the author gives functional (energy), variational (work), and differential (force) formulations. It is concluded that the functional formulation is suitable for studying the existence and uniqueness of solution, the variational formulation is suitable for constructing discrete approximations, and the differential formulation is suitable for calculating the solution. The paper is addressed to beginners in contact mechanics. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0960.00025].