Fretting is a phenomenon that occurs at the contacts of surfaces that are subjected to oscillatory relative movement of small amplitudes. Depending on service conditions, fretting may significantly reduce the service life of a component due to fretting fatigue. In this regard, the analysis of stresses at contact is of great importance for predicting the lifetime of components. However, due to the complexity of the fretting phenomenon, analytical solutions are available for very selective situations and finite element (FE) analysis has become an attractive tool to evaluate stresses and to study fretting problems. Recent laboratory studies in fretting fatigue suggested the presence of stress singularities in the stick-slip zone. In this paper, we constructed finite element models, with different element sizes, in order to verify the existence of stress singularity under fretting conditions. Based on our results, we did not find any singularity for the considered loading conditions and coefficients of friction. Since no singularity was found, the present paper also provides some comments regarding the convergence rate. Our analyses showed that the convergence rate in stress components depends on coefficient of friction, implying that this rate also depends on the loading condition. It was also observed that errors can be relatively high for cases with a high coefficient of friction, suggesting the importance of mesh refinement in these situations. Although the accuracy of the FE analysis is very important for satisfactory predictions, most of the studies in the literature rarely provide information regarding the level of error in simulations. Thus, some recommendations of mesh sizes for those who wish to perform FE analysis of fretting problems are provided for different levels of accuracy.
Cite this article as: K. Pereira, T. Yue and M. Abdel Wahab, Multiscale analysis of the effect of roughness on fretting wear, Tribiology International, http://dx.doi.org/10. 1016/j.triboint.2017.02.024 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting galley proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Abstract: Fretting occurs when two loaded contacting surfaces are exposed to oscillatory relative movement of small amplitude. Depending on conditions such as surface finishing, coefficient of friction, normal load and slip amplitude, fretting may reduce the service life of a component by fretting wear. The effect of surface roughness on the fretting wear profile is still uncertain and may be significant. However, most of the finite element (FE) models that are used to predict fretting wear do not take it into consideration. In this paper, we propose a multiscale procedure to study roughness effect on fretting wear using FE models. In order to do that, we treat the problem in two scales: a) micro scale to analyse the effect of roughness on the contact pressure for frictionless conditions, and b) macro scale to estimate the wear profile evolution for a cylinder on plane contact configuration.
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