Estimation of thermal contact parameters at the interface of two sliding bodies

Abstract

The knowledge of heat transfer between sliding solids has determinant applications in many industrial sectors (motor, railway, space...). The heat flux generated by friction increases the temperatures, which can create an excessive deformation of these solids, leading to the damaging of surfaces. The thermal coupling at the interface of two solids can be described either by a model of 'perfect contact' which assumes the equality of surface temperatures of solids, or by a model of 'imperfect contact' where a difference of temperatures is introduced at the interface due to surfaces irregularities. The modelling of heat transfer between two sliding solids introduces three macroscopic parameters: hcg (the thermal conductance), a (the local heat partition coefficient) and ϕg (the generated flux). Some numerical approaches of the simultaneous identification of these parameters have been developed with an assumption of constant parameters. This article presents the first estimation of the three parameters for the dry real sliding contact.