Contact tractions between orthotropic materials by using the boundary element method

The boundary element formulation and the computer implementation of the 2-D contact problem with small displacements and strains between elastic orthotropic materials are presented in this paper. The computer program includes isoparametric linear, quadratic and quarter-point-traction-singular elements. The contact interface conditions are explicitly imposed. It is possible to include several contact zones with different friction coefficients between the solids. The algorithm minimizes the number of equations to be solved for each load step. Several examples have been included, specially the computation of contact tractions in composite material plates with bolted joints or the influence on the stress intensity factor of the crack closure effects.