Boundary element hyper-singular formulation for elastoplastic contact problems

A new formulation for solving elastoplastic frictional contact problems by the boundary element method using non-conforming discretization is presente d. The initial strain approach, together with the von Mises yield criterion is adopted. Two different methods are developed for the evaluation of the contact parameters. The first utilizes the local interpolation functions to approximate the contact parameters at the non-nodal contact points. In the second method proposed the unknowns at these contact points are computed b y the boundary integral displacement equation, which contains a strongly si ngular integral, or the boundary integral traction equation, which has a hy per-singular integral. The resulting system of equations includes the unkno wns of a node within the contact zone of one body expressed in terms of all nodal Values of tractions and displacements of the other body. Comparisons is made between the new approaches and conforming discretization. Copyrigh t (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.