ABSTRACT
A number of experimental studies [1, 2] revealed that the normal displacement in a contact of coated/rough surfaces due to coating/asperities presence is a nonlinear function of local pressure, and it can be approximated by a power function of pressure. Originally, a linear mathematical model accounting for the surface structure of two elastic solids in contact was introduced by I. Shtaerman [3]. He assumed that the effect of surface asperities present in a contact of two elastic solids can be essentially replaced by the presence of a thin coating simulated by an additional normal displacement of solids’ surfaces proportional to a local pressure. Later, a similar nonlinear problem formulation that accounted for the above-mentioned experimental fact was proposed by L. Galin. In a series of papers [4] - [12] the problem was studied by numerical and asymptotic methods.
