BOUNDARY ELEMENT THERMAL ANALYSIS OF SLIDING CONTACT

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Abstract
A boundary integral equation method has been developed to analyze surface temperatures generated by friction in sliding contact. Surface temperature is an important factor in tribology. The method readily handles any combination of finite or semi-infinite geometry, thermal properties, sliding velocity, and multiple, interacting contact areas. In order to handle the sliding velocity, a moving Green's function is used, which incorporates the convective effect of the motion in a convenient and accurate manner. Numerical studies show that the method is unconditionally stable using a midpoint rule to handle the numerical integrations. Relatively large time steps and large boundary elements can be used to obtain converged and accurate results. Also, the general three-dimensional regions require discretisation only over two-dimensional surfaces. Overall, these factors lead to a solution method that is computationally efficient and accurate. Results show that the Piclet number, the sliding velocity, and the number, spacing, and orientation of multiple contacts all have a strong influence on the division of factional heat and the resulting surface temperature rise.