Modeling and simulation of dynamical contact of asperities between flat rough surfaces

Abstract

Dynamic contact analysis on the level of surface asperities is a powerful means to study the wear behavior of surface and the physical contact properties of interface. This article established an analytical model of asperity contacts between nominal rough planes during sliding process based on the statistical contact analysis of rough surfaces. The analytical expression describes the mathematical relationship between the total number of asperity contacts and its main influencing factors including the nominal contact area, sliding distance, the spacing between two contact planes, and surface topographical parameters. A simulation model of dynamic contact of asperities on rough planes was established to rapidly calculate the number of asperity contacts during the sliding process. The comparison between the calculation results and simulation results of the number of asperity contacts obtained through multifactor and multilevel analysis verified the rationality of the analytical model.