Predicting the Shakedown Limits of Joints Subject to Fretting and High Cycle Fatigue

Abstract

Contact interfaces, particularly as found in jointed structures, are potential sources of energy dissipation, wear, and damage. Consequently, accurate analysis of structures with contact interfaces is paramount for assessing functionality and potential failure mechanisms. Numerical and experimental analyses of a jointed structure, however, are endeavors that require a significant investment of time and resources. The strategy employed for the analysis of the joint depends typically upon whether energy dissipation is a positive or negative feature for a joint within a larger system. In this chapter, a technique for efficiently calculating the shakedown limit of coupled, discrete frictional systems with a large number of degrees of freedom (DOFs) is examined. This calculation is applied to a complete contact problem between a square punch and an elastically similar half-plane, and the influence of initial conditions on steady-state energy dissipation is investigated. The calculated value of the shakedown limit is then compared to a series of transient simulations that were run until a steady state was reached. These results demonstrate that the dissipative properties of coupled complete contacts can be highly dependent on the initial residual slip displacement state.