Contact between rolling beams and flat surfaces

Author(s)

Gay Neto, Alfredo ^[1] ; Pimenta, Paulo M. ^[1] ; Wriggers, Peter ^[2]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Polytech Sch, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Leibniz Univ Hannover, D-30167 Hannover - Germany

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN ENGINEERING; v. 97, n. 9, p. 683-706, MAR 2 2014.
• Web of Science Citations: 12

Abstract

This work presents a new approach to model the contact between a circular cross section beam and a flat surface. In a finite element environment, when working with beam elements in contact with surfaces, it is common to consider node or line to surface approaches for describing contact. An offset can be included in normal gap function due to beam cross section dimensions. Such a procedure can give good results in frictionless scenarios, but the friction effects are not usually properly treated. When friction plays a role (e.g., rolling problems or alternating rolling/sliding) more elaboration is necessary. It is proposed here a method that considers an offset not only in normal gap. The basic idea is to modify the classical definition of tangential gap function in order to include the effect of rigid body rotation that occurs in a rolling scenario and, furthermore, consider the moment of friction force. This paper presents the new gap function definition and also its consistent linearization for a direct implementation in a Newton-Raphson method to solve nonlinear structural problems modeled using beam elements. The methodology can be generalized to any interaction involving elements with rotational degrees of freedom. Copyright (c) 2013 John Wiley \& Sons, Ltd. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 12/09912-0 - RISERS NONLINEAR DYNAMICS INCLUDING THE UNILATERAL CONTACT WITH THE SEABED
• Grantee: Alfredo Gay Neto
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 12/21167-8 - Techniques for the computational analysis of contact problems in risers
• Grantee: Alfredo Gay Neto
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor