Cylinder-Flat Contact Mechanics with Surface Roughness

Abstract

AbstractWe study the nominal (ensemble averaged) contact pressure p(x) acting on a cylinder squeezed in contact with an elastic half space with random surface roughness. The contact pressure is Hertzian-like for $$\alpha < 0.01$$ α < 0.01 and Gaussian-like for $$\alpha > 10$$ α > 10 , where the dimensionless parameter $$\alpha = h_{\rm rms}/\delta $$ α = h rms / δ is the ratio between the root-mean-square roughness amplitude and the penetration for the smooth surfaces case (Hertz contact).