A method to resolve ambiguities in corner-corner interactions between polygons in the context of motion simulations

The motion of systems of polygonal objects is characterized by discontinuities due to changes in the set of contacts between polygons. Effective simulations of such a motion requires a simulation scheme that can automatically update the set of contacts during the simulation. This article focuses on a contact updating problem that arises when a penalty based contact model is used. A penalty based model requires a finite overlap of contacting polygons. This overlap results in ambiguities in characterizing corner-corner contact between polygons. A simple yet effective scheme to overcome such ambiguities is presented.