Axisymmetric Contact Stresses About a Smooth Elastic Sphere in an Infinite Solid Stressed Uniformly at Infinity

Abstract

An evaluation is made of non-Hertzian contact stresses occurring during partial separation between a smooth elastic spherical inclusion and a surrounding infinite medium subjected to two independent axisymmetric stress components at infinity. Modifications of an analysis by another author for a special case involving a rigid inclusion and uniaxial tension applied at infinity are discussed, and an alternate method of solution is given. Extensive numerical results are presented for circumferential and normal stresses on the cavity corresponding to 12 different combinations of loading and elastic parameters which yield contact surfaces defined by either an equatorial spherical band or two polar spherical caps.