Force-Displacement Law

The contact-model formulation provides a force-displacement law relating the generalized internal force to the relative motion at the contact. The internal force and moment (Fc and Mc) act at the contact location in an equal and opposite sense on the two pieces (see Figure 1). The formulation is expressed in terms of a set of internal parameters, most of which are associated with rheological components (see Figure 2).

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Figure 1: Internal force and moment acting on the two pieces at a ball-ball contact.

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Figure 2: Icons and parameters associated with rheological components.