Numerical analysis of an elastic contact problem with damage

In this work, we consider a mathematical model for the quasistatic contact problem between an elastic body and a deformable obstacle, including the effect of the damage of the material, within the framework of the small deformation theory. The numerical analysis of the variational problem is provided using the finite element method to approximate the spatial variable and an Euler scheme to discretize the time derivatives. Finally, a two-dimensional numerical problem is presented to show the performance of the method. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)