A model of edge-to-edge contact for three-dimensional discontinuous deformation analysis

The key to three-dimensional discontinuous deformation analysis (3D DDA) is a rigorous contact theory that governs the interaction of many three-dimensional blocks. Such a theory must provide ways to judge contact types and contact locations and also formulas for contact submatrices. A part of this contact theory is an edge-to-edge contact model. This paper presents the details of an edge-to-edge contact model to be used in 3D DDA, including the detection of edge-to-edge contact type, judging of the first entrance faces, and the criteria for inter-penetration. Contact submatrices are derived by vector analysis and the penalty function method. This edge-to-edge contact model has been implemented into a 3D DDA computer program. Three test cases demonstrate the reasonableness of the model and the capability of 3D DDA to deal with large movements and multi-block interaction.