The Use of Various Types of Pressure Element in Some Elastic Contact Problems

Abstract

The numerical solution to the problem of the contact between an elastic half-space and a punch of rectangular section, is compared with the classical solution. The numerical method uses both triangular and rectangular pressure elements in order to find which gives the more accurate results, especially in the vicinity of the singularity at the punch edge. It is found that rectangular elements generally give a smaller percentage error than do triangular elements. When, however, the pressure elements are used in conjunction with a power law singularity element at each edge of the punch, a considerable improvement in overall accuracy results. Three-dimensional singularity elements are then used in the contact problem of overriding conformal gear teeth, where the normal footprint ellipse has been truncated.