Interfacial slip and creep in rolling contact incorporating a cylinder with an elastic layer

A systematic approach for investigating the interfacial behaviour of tyred systems is proposed. A two-dimensional contact model of an elastic strip, shrink-fitted onto a wheel, and subjected to different rolling contact conditions, has been adopted to illustrate the method. The model combines existing techniques to explore individual elastic contact problems and it enables us to characterise the behaviour at the strip/substrate interface caused by loads induced by a quasi-static application of stationary and moving loads on the surface of the layer. The solution is compared to the stationary load case and regimes of local slip, full stick, separation and frictional creep are identified and collated for a variety of loading conditions, materials and geometries. Further, this article presents an investigation of frictional shakedown for layered systems subjected to periodic contact loading. The term shakedown is here referred to as the possibility of developing interfacial residual stresses at the layer/substrate interface such that frictional slip, originally activated by the applied external contact load, ceases after a few loading cycles. The possible applicability of the Melan’s theorem for elastic frictional system is investigated and preliminary results presented.