A contact searching algorithm for contact-impact problems

A new contact searching algorithm for contact-impact systems is proposed in this paper. In terms of the cell structure and the linked-list, this algorithm solves the problem of sorting and searching contacts in three dimensions by transforming it to a retrieving process from two one-dimensional arrays, and binary searching is no longer required. Using this algorithm, the cost of contact searching is reduced to the order ofO(N) instead ofO(Nlog₂ N) for traditional ones, whereN is the node number in the system. Moreover, this algorithm can handle contact systems with arbitrary mesh layouts. Due to the simplicity of this algorithm it can be easily implemented in a dynamic explicit finite element program. Our numerical experimental result shows that this algorithm is reliable and efficient for contact searching of three dimensional systems. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (59875045), and the State Key Laboratory of Automobile Safety and Energy Saving (K9705)