Stability of finite element mixed interpolations for contact problems
We consider the formulation of contact problems using a Lagrange multiplier to enforce the contact no-penetration constraint. The finite element discretization of the formulation must satisfy stability conditions which include an inf-sup condition. To identify which finite element interpolations in the contact constraint lead to stable (and optimal) numerical solutions we focus on the finite element discretization and solution of a «simple» model problem. While a simple problem to avoid the need...