Wednesday 21 January 2026 at 4:45 pm, as part of the Insalate di Matematica seminar cycle, Loris Molinari (University of Milano) will give the following talk
Title: Mixed Virtual Element methods for contact problems
Abstract: Virtual Element Methods (in short, VEMs) are a recent family of numerical methods widely employed today for approximating partial differential equations. This class of Galerkin methods naturally adapts to arbitrary polygonal decompositions of the domain, due to the adoption of discrete spaces that are no longer limited to polynomials. This flexibility makes VEMs particularly well-suited for dealing with variational problems with complex geometries and non-standard boundary conditions. In this talk, we will begin with a brief introduction to the virtual element methods aimed at illustrating their fundamental ideas. We will then explore the application of a Stokes-like virtual element method to address a central problem in solid mechanics, known as the contact problem. In this context, we will highlight the main advantages of VEMs for its numerical approximation.
Keywords: VEMs, Contact problems
Information to attend
The seminar will be held in Room U9-12 (U9 Building | Viale dell’Innovazione 10, Milano) and will also be available online by this link (password: insalate, 46725283 from phones).
For more information, visit the website