A 2-dimentional contact analysis using second-order virtual element method

In the present study, we exploit the use of second-order virtual element method (VEM) for contact analysis in 2-dimension within the context of linear elasticity and small deformation. By virtue of mesh flexibility in the VEM, the non-matching meshes at the contact interface are transformed into matching meshes, and therefore the node-to-node contact discretization can be constructed. The frictional contact is considered as stick condition, and no tangential movement is allowed due to the assumption of small deformation condition. The normal and frictional contact constraints are imposed using the Lagrange multiplier method and the penalty method, respectively, and the candidate contact interface is determined by a series of adaptive trial and error tests as well as prior experience. Several numerical examples are investigated to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in contact analysis, and the results show that the proposed method is able to handle problem with complex non-matching meshes at contact interface. Properties of shear wall consisting of units with fitting joints are also investigated as a practical application.