Abstract In case of very thin surface coatings, the coating layer is often ignored in a large-scale Finite Element Analysis. This is mainly due to extensive numerical cost required to capture the correct mechanical behaviour of the layer, especially if the coating is significantly softer than the substrate. To overcome the excessive computational cost, due to the full discretization of the thin layer, in large-scale structural contact simulations one can consider a polynomial approximation of the solution field inside the layer. This formulation allows for a reduced representation of the surface layer and proves to be suitable for incorporation within existing finite element codes. Inclusion of the method scales down to an additional stiffness to the system of equations. Furthermore, it can be used in a classical finite element contact solver without strong additional modifications. Significant computational cost reduction is obtained for proposed 2D test-cases in comparison to fully discretized layer approach. It is especially apparent with soft layers on harder substrates. Hence, it is a promising method to be used in large scale structural simulations for studying the mechanical behaviour of systems with thin soft coatings.

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如何有效地将软薄涂层应用于现有的有限元接触模型

摘要 在非常薄的表面涂层的情况下，涂层在大规模有限元分析中经常被忽略。这主要是由于捕获层的正确机械行为所需的大量数值成本，特别是当涂层明显比基材软时。为了克服过度的计算成本，由于薄层的完全离散化，在大规模结构接触模拟中，可以考虑层内解场的多项式近似。这种公式允许减少表面层的表示，并证明适合合并到现有的有限元代码中。该方法的包含按比例缩小到方程系统的附加刚度。此外，它可以在经典的有限元接触求解器中使用，而无需进行大量额外修改。与完全离散化层方法相比，所提出的 2D 测试用例的计算成本显着降低。对于较硬基材上的软层，这一点尤其明显。因此，它是一种用于大规模结构模拟的有前途的方法，用于研究具有薄软涂层的系统的机械行为。