Frictional Energy Dissipation in a Rough Hertzian Contact

The interfacial contact pressure and shear traction distributions are found for a sphere pressed onto an elastically similar half-space whose surface is populated by a uniform array of spherical asperities, when the normal load is constant and an oscillatory shear, less than that needed to cause sliding, is imposed. Details of the load history suffered by asperities in an outer sliding annulus and an inner disk, where they experience partial slip, are found, together with the effects of the roughness on the overall tangential compliance and the frictional energy losses. It is shown that for the example combination of parameters chosen, under light shear loads, the rough contact absorbs less energy than a smooth one subject to the same loading history, but that for larger shearing forces the reverse is true.