Effect of heat-conductive filler of interface gap on thermoelastic contact of solids

The thermoelastic contact of two isotropic solids separated by an interface gap is considered. The gap is formed due to an initial sloping smooth groove on the boundary of one of solids and filled with heat-conductive substance (gas or liquid). The heat is supposed to flow from the material with the higher thermal distortivity into the material with the smaller one. The gap filler influence on heat transfer between two solids is modeled by thermal resistance linearly dependent on the height of the gap. The conditions of perfect thermal contact and nonfrictional mechanical contact are assumed to be satisfied at the interface outside the gap. The contact problem is reduced to a set of two nonlinear singular integrodifferential equations, which is solved numerically. The effect of the imposed heat flow and heat conduction of the gap filler on the length and height of the gap, temperature jump at the interface, distribution of heat flows along and through the interface and distribution of contact stresses is analyzed.