Transient thermoelastic contact problem of two sliding half-planes

Abstract

A transient contact problem with frictional heating for two sliding halfplanes is considered. One of the half-planes is slightly rounded to give a hertzian initial pressure distribution; the other is a rigid non-conductor. It is shown that if the ratio of initial width of contact to the width in the steady state is less than some critical value, the contact area shrinks smoothly until the steady state is reached. Otherwise the pressure distribution develops a wavy perturbation and eventually bifurcates. Results are compared with previous approximate solutions.