Non-localized Contact Between Beams with Non-Circular Cross Sections

In this contribution, we introduce a contact formulation between beams finite elements with (hyper)elliptical cross sections. The contact scheme allows to model scenarios in which the contact area is finite or the contact area occurs along a line. Although some contact schemes are yet able to do this, they require one of the beams to have a circular cross section. Here however, we focus on non-circular cross-sections. Consequently, new projections are required, in which the beam surfaces are used explicitly to formulate contact kinematics.