A Point-Wise Isogeometric Contact Analysis with Interpolatory NURBS Basis

The point-to-segment approach is appealing for contact analysis due to its efficiency. In this work, formulations of a point-wise isogeometric contact analysis method for large-deformation bodies are presented. The approach is based on the transformed nonuniform rational basis spline (NURBS) basis, which possesses an interpolation property at the corresponding collocation points at the slave contact boundary. The physical meaning of the contact forces at the collocation points (or control points because of the interpolation property) is clear. The idea is realized under the framework of two-dimensional frictionless contact with penalty regularization. Numerical examples including the contact patch test, Hertzian problem, and iron sliding contact revealed the robustness and accuracy of the proposed method for contact analysis.