Friction Characteristic Calculations during Cylinder’s Sliding Contact over the Wavy Viscoelastic Base

Abstract

The formulation and method for solving the contact problem of the rigid cylinder sliding over the wavy surface of the viscoelastic layer bonded to the rigid base is presented under the assumption that the cylinder axis is perpendicular to the surface waviness cross-section. The calculation results allow assessing the effects of sliding velocity, surface layer microgeometry, and its relaxation properties on the contact characteristics (the position and size of the actual contact region and the contact pressure distribution) and on the friction force’s deformation component. Depending on the sliding velocity, the contact region may be solid or consisting of discrete contact spots with high values of the maximum contact pressure for the same surface waviness. It is also established that the friction force increases with increasing waviness amplitude and viscosity of the surface layer.