Contact area calculation between elastic solids bounded by mound rough surfaces

In this work, we investigate the influence of mound roughness on the contact area between elastic bodies. The mound roughness is described by the r.m.s. roughness amplitude w, the average mound separation Lambda, and the system correlation length xi. In general, the real contact area has a complex dependence on the lateral parameters xi and Lambda. As a function of the contact length scale lambda, the contact area approaches macroscopic values rather fast for contact lengths lambda greater than or equal to Lambda and significant system correlation lengths xi(greater than or equal to Lambda). Finally, as a function of the applied load or, the contact area increases significantly with increasing load if xi greater than or equal to Lambda, while for xi much less than Lambda it approaches macroscopic values even for very weak loads ( much less than E; with E the solid body elastic modulus). (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.