The sliding contact of a rigid wavy surface with a viscoelastic half-space

In this paper, the contact of a rigid sinusoid sliding on a viscoelastic half-space is studied. The solution of the problem is obtained by following the path drawn by Hunter for cylindrical contacts. Results show that depending on the remote applied load, a transition from full contact conditions to partial contact may occur depending on the sliding velocity. This effect, which is not observed in smooth single asperity contacts, is related to the viscoelastic stiffening of the material and to the periodicity of the contacts. Frictional properties as well as contact area, displacement and pressure distributions are discussed in detail.