The large penetration strategy using the Lagrange multiplier method for contact problems with large load steps

The so-called large penetration strategy has been recently proposed both to solve frictionless contact problems involving large load steps and to regularize/accelerate the solution path for normal load steps with the penalty method. This work extends the strategy to the use of the Lagrange multiplier method, in order to enable an exact enforcement of the contact constraints. This contribution highlights the needed conceptual modifications and presents some examples.