Viscoelastic frictionless contact problems with adhesion

Abstract

We consider two quasistatic frictionless contact problems for viscoelastic bodies with long memory. In the first problem the contact is modelled with Signorini's conditions and in the second one is modelled with normal compliance. In both problems the adhesion of the contact surfaces is taken into account and is modelled with a surface variable, the bonding field. We provide variational formulations for the mechanical problems and prove the existence of a unique weak solution to each model. The proofs are based on arguments of time-dependent variational inequalities, differential equations, and a fixed point theorem. Moreover, we prove that the solution of the Signorini contact problem can be obtained as the limit of the solutions of the contact problem with normal compliance as the stiffness coefficient of the foundation converges to infinity.