Elastic contact between a cylindrical surface and a flat surface - A non-Hertzian model of multi-asperity contact

Contact between curved rough bodies is an important engineering problem. The paper addresses the problem in its simplest form where a smooth rigid cylinder presses down an elastic half space bounded by a plane of uniformly spaced cylindrical asperities. Keeping the separation between the bodies unchanged the problem is inverted and solved using the method of complex variables. As the asperities deform as well as move as rigid bodies, contact lengths and positions develop non-symmetrically with respect to the initial axes of symmetry of the asperities. The resulting local contact pressures are non-Hertzian and the normal load for a given contact area is greater than that estimated using a priori Hertzian pressure profiles.