The symmetrical adhesive contact problem for circular elastic cylinders (Q1197559)

The authors investigate the contact problem for a rough elastic cylinder compressed symmetrically by two elastic (or rigid) plates and two elastic (or rigid) cylinders, respectively. The roughness is taken into account by means of the condition that no tangential displacements take place; this, however, is not true generally. Based on the linear elastic solutions for a circular cylinder, the contact conditions are formulated resulting in two rather complex coupled singular integral equations. The assumption of a small comtact angle leads to simplified equations which could be obtained essentially and directly by using elastic half planes instead of cylinders, and they are well known in the theory of rolling contact. Numerical results are given for rigid intenders including large contact angles, which are far away from the validity of linear elasticity and which contradict the original assumptions.