On the general rolling contact problem for finite deformations of a viscoelastic cylinder (Q1068607)

The formulation of a variational principle for the finite steady-state deformation of a rolling cylinder is presented together with finite element methods and numerical algorithms for the analysis of such problems. The unilateral contact of hyperelastic and viscoelastic rolling cylinders on a rough foundation on which nonclassical friction laws hold is characterized by a highly nonlinear variational inequality, the solutions of which can exhibit bifurcations for certain values of angular velocity. Some of these bifurcations correspond to the emergence of standing waves in such cylinders. The results of several numerical experiments are also presented.