A penalty-based interface technology for coupling independently modeled 3D finite element meshes

An effective and robust 2D interface element able to connect independently modeled 3D finite element subdomains is presented. This method has been developed using a hybrid variational formulation with the penalty constraints, which leads to a computational approach that is very efficient. A significant effort has been directed toward developing an automatic calculation of the proper penalty parameter for each interface constraint. This paper extends the previous work on the 1D penalty-based interface element for connecting 2D meshes. A variety of 3D problems have been investigated to validate the formulation.