A study of contact non-linearities in pin-loaded lugs: Separation, clearance and frictional slipping effects

Pin-loaded lugs with bush fitting are widely encountered in industrial applications to connect parts and transmit loads and motions. Due to their mechanical function, frictional contact inevitably takes place on the pin-bush and lug-pin interfaces, and can lead to non-linear behaviours occurrence under monotonic or periodic loading, such as bush-lug contact separation, pin-bush conforming contact effects in the presence of initial clearance, or bush-lug frictional slipping mechanisms. The aim of this paper is not to present new results of finite element simulations for lugs involving contact with friction but to provide a comprehensive study of those contact non-linearities through a dedicated analytical contact model.