Stress analysis of elastic coated solids in point contact

In this paper, a point contact model of a rigid ball and an elastic coated solid is presented by combining the traditional contact model and the influence coefficients (ICs). The ICs are obtained from frequency response functions with a conversion method based on FFT. The validity and accuracy of present model are verified by comparisons of the solutions obtained by the present model with the analytical solution for Hertz contact and with the pioneers׳ result for non-Hertzian contact. The effect of coating thickness on the stress field is numerically investigated and the preferable coating thickness is drawn.