Numerical analysis of a quasi-static contact problem for a thermoviscoelastic beam

In this paper we revisit a quasi-static contact problem of a thermoviscoelastic beam between two rigid obstacles which was recently studied in Ill. The variational problem leads to a coupled system, composed of an elliptic variational inequality for the vertical displacement and a linear variational equation for the temperature field. Then, its numerical resolution is considered, based on the finite element method to approximate the spatial variable and the implicit Euler scheme to discretize the time derivatives. Error estimates are proved from which, under adequate regularity conditions, the linear convergence is derived. Finally, some numerical simulations are presented to show the accuracy of the algorithm and the behavior of the solution. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.