Non-Hertzian contact stress analysis for an elastic half space-normal and sliding contact

Abstract A general method of numerical solution in the non-Hertzian elastic contact problem is developed using rectangular subdivisions. The major application of the method given is in the sliding contact of a short rough cylinder with an elastic half space; the contact region is the side of the cylinder, whose axis may not be exactly aligned to the surface of the half space. The stress singularity at the ends of the cylinder is taken as either square root (to determine stress intensification factor) or is approximated by compact elements to reduce computing time. An iterative scheme is used and the convergence to the unknown shape of the contact region is rapid.