Influence of Surface Waviness and Roughness on the Normal Pressure Distribution in the Hertzian Contact

Abstract

Contact stresses are one of the most important parameters in the analysis of a contact problem found for instance, in the design of gears and roller bearings. In this work the influence of geometrical surface imperfections on the normal pressure distribution in the contact is studied. A variational formulation based on the principle of complementary virtual work is used to solve the normal contact problem. The normal contact between two elastic half-spaces is considered, as the contact surface is small when compared to the dimensions of the contacting bodies. Results are presented to determine the influence of surface roughness, wavelength, and amplitude on the normal pressure distribution.