The conduction of heat from sliding solids

Abstract The large scale restrictions to heat flow from two sliding solids can have a significant effect on the temperature field near the interface. It is shown that a practical system can be approximated to two semi-infinite solids whose temperatures at infinity are related to the heat flow rates through them. A number of existing semi-infinite solid solutions are generalised to allow for a difference between the temperatures at infinity and a new particular solution is developed for the case of sub-surface heat generation. The method is then extended to situations with several contact areas and the effect of geometrical and physical properties on the interfacial boundary conditions is discussed.