Axial compression of an elastic circular cylinder in contact with two identical elastic half spaces

Abstract This paper considers the axially-symmetric compression of an elastic circular cylinder of finite length in contact with two identical elastic half-spaces. Both the frictionless and the adhesive contact problems are solved. Continuity of the stress and displacement components at the interfaces leads to simultaneous integral equations from which the surface stresses are determined. Numerical solutions are obtained for various combinations of the elastic moduli of the media and for some values of the height-width ratio of the cylinder; the corresponding normal and shear stress distributions are plotted. Values of the relative approach of the half-spaces are presented which may be of interest in the interpretation of the results of the standard compression test. The well-known equations of the elastic half-space are used and a general stress function is developed for the cylinder from which a wide class of boundary-value problems may be solved by the methods presented.