Stratified Revised Asperity Contact Model for Worn Surfaces

Abstract

Segmented bi-Gaussian stratified elastic asperity contact model of Leefe (1998, “‘Bi-Gaussian’ Representation of Worn Surface Topography in Elastic Contact Problems,” Tribol. Ser., 34, pp. 281–290), which suits for worn surfaces, has been improved. It still exhibits two drawbacks: (1) the arbitrary assumption of the probability density function (PDF) consisting of two component PDFs intersecting at a knee-point, violating the unity-area demand and (2) the preference for large roughness-scale part of the surface, leading to an error on the characterization of small roughness-scale part. A continuous bi-Gaussian stratified elastic asperity contact model is proposed based on a surface combination theory and a continuous separation method. The two stratified contact models are applied to a simulated pure bi-Gaussian surface and four real worn surfaces. The results show that the modified segmented and the continuous stratified contact models are both validated by a deterministic model with better accuracy for the continuous one.