A linear complementarity formulation for contact problems with regularized friction

A mathematical formulation in terms of a linear complementarity problem with regularized friction is introduced for multibody contact problems. In this approach, contacts are characterized based on kinematic constraints while the friction forces are simultaneously regularized and incorporated into the formulation. The variables of the resulting linear complementarity problem are only the normal forces. The main advantage of this formulation is that the dimension of the resulting linear complementarity problem is significantly less than its counterpart formulations in the literature, and hence, faster simulations can be achieved. The proposed formulation is examined for a set of benchmark examples yielding promising results.