Frictional receding contact analysis of a layer on a half-plane subjected to semi-infinite surface pressure

• Receding contacts are a class of contacts not understood well.
• A 2D frictional layer on a half-plane subject to surface pressure is modelled.
• The model uses distributions of dislocations to satisfy the contact conditions.
• Areas of stick, slip and separation as well as the contact tractions are found.

Though receding contacts occur in many engineering components, such as bolted joints, their properties are little understood. Previous studies have shown that the contact area in receding contacts reduces with the application of load and is load independent. Here an infinitely long layer in contact with a half-plane of the same material and subject to semi-infinite uniform normal surface pressure applied to the surface of the layer everywhere except along a portion of finite width is solved by applying distributions of edge dislocations. Solutions for the location of the areas of slip and separation along the contact interface are obtained for a variety of coefficient of friction values and no-pressure zone widths. The contact tractions are also computed.