An Analytical Study of the Stress Concentration Around a Furrow Shaped Surface Defect in Rolling Contact

Abstract

This paper presents a simple model for the stress concentration around a furrow shaped surface defect in rolling contact. An idealized two-dimensional defect profile, consisting of two curved shoulders smoothly connected to the remaining surface of an elastic half space under compression, is considered. The “undisturbed” stress state in the contacting cross section plane is assumed to be hydrostatic compression, corresponding to the “localized” stress state near the surface in the contact zone of two cylinders in contact. Numerical results are obtained for the contact pressure distribution and subsurface stress (octahedral shear stress). In this solution, which corresponds to the particular undisturbed stress state, the maximum value of the octahedral yield stress occurs underneath the curved “shoulders” of the defect.