Finite element algorithms for thermoelastic wear problems

In the present paper three algorithms are applied to a finite element model of two thermoelastic bodies in frictional wearing contact. All three algorithms utilize a modification of a Newton method for B-differentiable equations as non-linear equation solver. In the first algorithm the fully-coupled system of thermomechanical equations is solved directly using the modified method, while in the other two algorithms the equation system is decoupled in one mechanical part and another thermal part which are solved using an iterative strategy of Gauss–Seidel type. The two iterative algorithms differ in which order the parts are solved. The numerical performance of the algorithms are investigated for two two-dimensional examples. Based on these numerical results, the behaviour of the model is also discussed. It is found that the iterative approach where the thermal subproblem is solved first is slightly more efficient for both examples. Furthermore, it is shown numerically how the predicted wear gap is influenced by the bulk properties of the contacting bodies, in particular how it is influenced by thermal dilatation.