Sliding and indentation by a rigid half-wedge with friction and displacement coupling effects

Abstract

Dynamic rigid indentation induced by sliding contact in the presence of Coulomb friction is studied by considering a rigid half-wedge which simultaneously translates tangentially and normally at constant speeds with respect to the surface of an elastic half-plane. The tangential displacements of half-plane points in the contact zone are not a priori assumed to be negligible, and are thus coupled with the normal displacements in imposing the contact zone boundary conditions. The contact zone itself, as defined on the undeformed half-plane, extends at a constant rate. A complete solution to the problem shows that the coupling effects may be small for low indentation speeds and relatively flat half-wedges. The coupling effect decreases the singularity order at the half-wedge apex, while the friction increases it. Indeed, the two effects may cancel out in this and other aspects of the solution. It is also found that apex particle velocity singularities occur only due to the tangential motion of the half-wedge.