AbstractThis paper presents a finite element formulation for the analysis of two dimensional reinforced elastic solids developing both small and large deformations without increasing the number of degrees of freedom. Fibers are spread inside the domain without the necessity of node coincidence. Contact stress analysis is carried out for both straight and curved elements via two different strategies. The first employs consistent differential relations and the second adopts a simple average calculation. The development of all equations is described along the paper. Numerical examples are employed to demonstrate the behavior of the proposed methodology and to compare the contact stress results for both calculations.