On computer implementation of the Hertz elastic contact model and its simplifications

The paper is concerned with an elastic contact model of rigid bodies which is developed in the framework of the Hertz model. For this new model, we suggest more effective algorithms with reduced computational time. We also present an algorithm for representation of the geometry of the contacting surfaces in the local contact coordinate system. This coordinate system tracks permanently the surfaces of the bodies, which are able to contact.
An approach to computation of the normal elastic force is presented. It is based on the reduction to a single transcendental scalar equation that includes the complete elliptic integrals of the first and second kinds. The computational time in the Hertz-model simulation was considerably reduced due to the use of the differential technique for computation of the complete elliptic integrals and due to the replacement of the implicit transcendental equation by a differential one. Using the classic solution of the Hertz contact problem, we then present an invariant form for the force function, which depends on the geometric properties of the intersection of the undeformed volumes occupied with the rigid bodies (so-called volumetric model). The reduced expression for the force function obtained is shown to be different from that accepted in the classic contact theory hypotheses. Our expression has been tested in several examples dealing with bodies that contact elastically including Hertz’s classical model.
In the context of the Hertz contact problem, an approximate model for computation the resulting wrench of the dry friction tangent forces is set up. The wrench consists of the total friction force and the drilling friction torque. The approach under consideration naturally extends the contact model constructed earlier. The dry friction forces and torque are integrated over the contact elliptic spot. Generally an analytic computation of the integrals mentioned is bulk and cumbersome leading to decades of terms that include rational functions depending on complete elliptic integrals. To be able to implement a fast computer model of elastically contacting bodies, one should first set up an approximate model in the way initially proposed by Contensou. To verify the model developed, we have used results obtained by several authors. First we test our method on the Tippe-Top dynamic model. Simulations show that the top’s evolution can be verified with a high quality compared with the use of the theory of set-valued functions.
In addition, the ball bearing dynamic model has been also used for a detailed verification of different approaches to the computation of tangent forces. Then the friction model of the regularized Coulomb type and the approximate Contensou one, each embedded into the whole bearing dynamic model, were thoroughly tested and compared. It turned out that the simplified Contensou approach provides a computer model that runs even faster compared with the case of the point contact. In addition, the volumetric model demonstrated a reliable behavior and an acceptable accuracy.