ABSTRACT
Contact mechanics is relevant to a wide variety of problems in classical and modern applications. Examples from traditional areas include the contacts occurring in railroad wheels on rails, roller bearings, gears, brakes, clutches, seals, electrical contacts, hard disk drives, and in friction modeling. Although contact mechanics has a base in these traditional areas of tribology, there is growing interest in contact mechanics in emerging areas such as in MEMS/NEMS and in biomechanics. Because of the scaling eµect, contact forces become relatively more important as the size of a body decreases. ˜us, MEMS/NEMS devices are prone to failure either by sticking together during fabrication or later while in use. ˜is “stiction” is perhaps the largest impediment to commercialization of these devices. In biology, the contact and adhesion between cells aµect the growth of organs and the spreading of cancer. Hip and knee joints are subject to wear, and the resulting arthritis o§en leads to joint replacement. Of course, contact stresses and the generation of wear debris is a major problem in the longevity of these prosthetic joints. For a thorough treatment of contact mechanics theory, the reader is referred to the classical book by Johnson [1].
