Third medium contact method
The third medium contact (TMC) is an implicit formulation for contact mechanics. Contacting bodies are embedded in a highly compliant medium (the third medium), which becomes increasingly stiff under compression. The stiffening of the third medium allows tractions to be transferred between the contacting bodies when the third medium between the bodies is compressed. In itself, the method is inexact; however, in contrast to most other contact methods, the third medium approach is continuous and differentiable, which makes it applicable to applications such as topology optimization.The method was first proposed by Peter Wriggers et al. where an Ogden material model was used to model the third medium.