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Prediction of contact response using boundary element method (BEM) for different surface topography

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Abstract

In the tribological design of machine elements, the contact surface topography has an important influence on the contact pressure, stiffness, and real contact area. It is essential to see how the surface topography behaves in the dry static contact condition, since it is an important part of mixed-lubrication regime in which most of gears and rolling contact bearings, cam/roller follower operate. In this work, a fully deterministic boundary element method (BEM) numerical model is developed for analyzing real contact area and contact pressure formed between ball-on-plate contacts for various rough surface topographies. The real contact area-load dependency is shown for different topographies of simulated rough surfaces. The effect of surface roughness and pattern ratio on the contact response is presented and discussed in detail. From results, it is shown that real contact area varies non-linearly with applied load. It is observed that nearly 60% real contact area is obtained at very high value of applied load (100N). Higher surface roughness leads to lower real contact area and normal displacement. An increase in real contact area is observed for rough surfaces having pattern ratio value (γ < 1) less than one.

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Abbreviations

\(\forall\) :

Sample area

u :

Surface displacement or deformation

p :

Contact pressure

E eq :

Equivalent elastic modulus, GPa

r g :

Initial rigid surface gap,

h :

Gap between mating surface

A c :

Real contact area, μm2

F N :

Applied load, N

H :

Material hardness, GPa

S q or σ :

Root mean square (rms) roughness, µm

z :

Roughness heights of composite surface, μm

R eq :

Reduced radius of curvature, mm

D :

Ball diameter, mm

γ :

Pattern ratio

β :

Correlation length, μm

X :

Domain in x-direction

Y :

Domain in y-direction

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab, India

    Deepak K. Prajapati, Chander Prakash & Kuldeep Saxena

  2. Department of Aeronautical Engineering, MLR Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500043, India

    MSatyanarayana Gupta

  3. UIET, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India

    Jaswinder Singh Mehta

Authors
  1. Deepak K. Prajapati
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  2. Chander Prakash
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  3. Kuldeep Saxena
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  4. MSatyanarayana Gupta
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  5. Jaswinder Singh Mehta
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Correspondence to Chander Prakash.

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Prajapati, D.K., Prakash, C., Saxena, K. et al. Prediction of contact response using boundary element method (BEM) for different surface topography. Int J Interact Des Manuf 18, 2725–2732 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12008-023-01290-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12008-023-01290-z

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