Abstract: It is difficult to solve the contact problem by usual finite element program. In this paper, we express the contact problem as an optimization problem. In this form we do not need to know all boundary condition in advance. We only need to know the constraint conditions. This method is especially good for solving contact problem. Using this method, we calculate the stresses of the softwheel in the harmonic gear given by Shanghai Jiaotong University, and the results are in good agreement with the experimental results.

Key words: interval variable, interval arithmetic, finite element method, interval finite element method