Existence theorems for noncoercive incremental contact problems with Coulomb friction

Abstract: Friction is a phenomenon which is present in most mechanical devices and frequently encountered in everyday life. In particular, understanding of this phenomenon is important in the modelling of contact between an elastic object and an obstacle. Noncoercive incremental contact problems with Coulomb friction constitute an important class of such friction problems due to their frequent occurrence in mechanical engineering. They occur for example when modelling an object which is not fixed to a support. The topic of this thesis is to study this class of friction problems.This thesis considers both discrete and continuous systems. For the continuous systems we consider both problems with a nonlocal friction law where the contact force is mollified and problems with a normal compliance friction law where the body may penetrate the obstacle. For all friction problems we derive a sufficient condition for the existence of a solution. This condition is a compatibility condition on the applied force field, and if it is violated there exists a nontrivial solution to a corresponding dynamical problem.