[NAFEMS] – Workshop on Contact Mechanics – Theory and Simulations

Contact Mechanics is the study of the deformation and stresses in solids that touch each other at one or more points. The physical and mathematical formulation of the subject is built upon the Mechanics of Materials and Continuum Mechanics.

In engineering one is concerned with the transfer of work, force, torque, and moment through various kinds of contact between different machine elements such as bearings, gear trains, locomotive wheel and rails, cam and valve tappets and joints etc.

Most load resistance members are designed based on stresses in the main body of the member i.e. in the portion of the body not effected by the localized stress at and near the surface of the contact where the loads are applied. Contact stresses are caused by the pressure of one elastic solid on another at a limited area of the contact. When the curved surfaces of two bodies are pressed together by external loads contact stresses are the significant stresses on or somewhat beneath the surface of the contact are associated with the failure of one or both the bodies.

Metal forming, Automotive crash, projectile penetration, seal designs, bushing and gear systems are a few examples of contact phenomena. This workshop aims to discuss fundamentals of contact mechanics and understand the different types of contact problems, role of friction/ lubrication, nonlinear contact phenomena, control techniques, solution procedure for convergence, contact failures and so on.