Numerical Contact Model of a Smooth Ball on an Anisotropic Rough Surface

Abstract

A numerical elastic-plastic contact model of a smooth ball on a directionally structured anisotropic rough surface is presented. The contact model is tested on three types of surface contact of a smooth ball on (i) a smooth surface, (ii) a sinusoidal surface, and (iii) a real rough surface. The validity of the model is proven by good agreement of the numerical result for the smooth surface with the Hertz analytical result. The contact of the sinusoidal surface shows that by the introduction of surface undulation in a regular pattern, the real pressure distribution follows the expected behavior where the contact pressure at the peak is maximum and the contact pressure at the valley is zero and the peak pressure decreases away from the ball center. The contact of the real rough surface shows the ability of the model to cope with the more practically realistic situation where the asperity heights are distributed randomly. The results of the rough surface contact analysis for different surface roughness are presented in a separate paper.