Development of a finite volume contact solver based on the penalty method

This paper describes the development and application of a frictionless contact stress solver based on the cell-centred finite volume method. The contact methodology, implemented in the open-source software OpenFOAM, is derived from the penalty method commonly used in finite element contact algorithms. The solver is verified on two benchmark tests using the available Hertzian analytical solutions. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.