Elasto-plastic coupled temperature-displacement finite element analysis of two-dimensional rolling-sliding contact with a translating heat source

Abstract

The present paper describes a transient translating elastoplastic thermomechanical finite element model to study two-dimensional frictional rolling contact. Frictional two-dimensional contact is simulated by repeatedly translating a nonuniform thermomechanical distribution across the surface of an elastoplastic half space. The half space is represented by a two-dimensional finite element mesh with appropriate boundaries. Calculations are for an elastic-perfectly plastic material and the selected thermophysical properties are assumed to be temperature independent. The paper presents temperature variations, stress and plastic strain distributions and deformations. Residual tensile stresses are observed. The magnitude and depth of these stresses depends on (1) the temperature gradients and (2) the magnitudes of the normal and tangential tractions.