Tangential contact problem for a transversely isotropic elastic layer bonded to an elastic foundation

A system consisting of an elastic layer made of a transversely isotropic material bonded to an elastic half-space made of a different transversely isotropic material is considered. An arbitrary tangential displacement is prescribed over a domain S of the layer, while the rest of the layer's surface is stress-free. The tangential contact problem consists of finding a complete field of stresses and displacements in this system. The generalized-images method developed by the author is used to get an elementary solution to the problem. It is also shown that an integral transform can be interpreted as a sum of generalized images. The case of a circular domain of contact is considered in detail. The results are valid for the case of isotropy as well.