Pantographing self adaptive gap elements

This paper develops a so-called pantographing self adaptive gap element type contact strategy. Due to the manner of formulation, the scheme has the capability to handle large deformations in the contact zone; contact initiation in structure exhibiting either positive or indefinite stiffness characteristics; kinematic and material nonlinearity as well as; self adaptively adjusts load/time stepping. In this context, contact in pre and postbuckling structure can be treated. To illustrate the scheme, several benchmark problems are presented. These include contacting structure involving large deformation kinematics, inelastic behavior as well as pre and postbuckling stiffness characteristics.