122 BudynasNisbett: Shigleys I. Basics 3.

Load and Stress Analysis The McGrawHill

Mechanical Engineering Companies, 2008
Design, Eighth Edition

Load and Stress Analysis 117

319 Contact Stresses

When two bodies having curved surfaces are pressed together, point or line contact
changes to area contact, and the stresses developed in the two bodies are three-
dimensional. Contact-stress problems arise in the contact of a wheel and a rail,
in automotive valve cams and tappets, in mating gear teeth, and in the action of
rolling bearings. Typical failures are seen as cracks, pits, or flaking in the surface
material.
The most general case of contact stress occurs when each contacting body has a
double radius of curvature; that is, when the radius in the plane of rolling is different
from the radius in a perpendicular plane, both planes taken through the axis of the con-
tacting force. Here we shall consider only the two special cases of contacting spheres
and contacting cylinders.14 The results presented here are due to Hertz and so are fre-
quently known as Hertzian stresses.

Spherical Contact
When two solid spheres of diameters d1 and d2 are pressed together with a force
F, a circular area of contact of radius a is obtained. Specifying E 1 , 1 and E 2 , 2
as the respective elastic constants of the two spheres, the radius a is given by the
equation
!
2
E 1 + 1 22 E 2
" #$ " #$
3 3F 1 1 (368)
a=
8 1/d1 + 1/d2
The pressure distribution within the contact area of each sphere is hemispherical, as shown
in Fig. 336b. The maximum pressure occurs at the center of the contact area and is
3F
pmax = (369)
2a 2

Equations (368) and (369) are perfectly general and also apply to the contact of
a sphere and a plane surface or of a sphere and an internal spherical surface. For a plane
surface, use d = . For an internal surface, the diameter is expressed as a negative
quantity.
The maximum stresses occur on the z axis, and these are principal stresses. Their
values are

( ) ) *
) z ) 1 1 1
1 = 2 = x = y = pmax 1 ) a ) tan |z/a| (1 + ) (
) ) *
z2
2 1+ 2
a
(370)

pmax
3 = z = (371)
z2
1+ 2
a

14
A more comprehensive presentation of contact stresses may be found in Arthur P. Boresi and Richard
J. Schmidt, Advanced Mechanics of Materials, 6th ed., Wiley, New York, 2003 pp. 589623.
 BudynasNisbett: Shigleys I. Basics 3. Load and Stress Analysis The McGrawHill 123
Mechanical Engineering Companies, 2008
Design, Eighth Edition

118 Mechanical Engineering Design

Figure 336 F F

(a) Two spheres held in

x
contact by force F; (b) contact
stress has a hemispherical
distribution across contact d1
zone diameter 2a.
y y

2a

d2

F F

z z
(a) (b)

These equations are valid for either sphere, but the value used for Poissons ratio
must correspond with the sphere under consideration. The equations are even more com-
plicated when stress states off the z axis are to be determined, because here the x and y
coordinates must also be included. But these are not required for design purposes,
because the maxima occur on the z axis.
Mohrs circles for the stress state described by Eqs. (370) and (371) are a point
and two coincident circles. Since 1 = 2 , we have 1/2 = 0 and
1 3 2 3
max = 1/3 = 2/3 = = (372)
2 2

Figure 337 is a plot of Eqs. (370), (371), and (372) for a distance to 3a below the
surface. Note that the shear stress reaches a maximum value slightly below the surface.
It is the opinion of many authorities that this maximum shear stress is responsible for
the surface fatigue failure of contacting elements. The explanation is that a crack orig-
inates at the point of maximum shear stress below the surface and progresses to the sur-
face and that the pressure of the lubricant wedges the chip loose.

Cylindrical Contact
Figure 338 illustrates a similar situation in which the contacting elements are two
cylinders of length l and diameters d1 and d2 . As shown in Fig. 338b, the area of con-
tact is a narrow rectangle of width 2b and length l, and the pressure distribution is
elliptical. The half-width b is given by the equation
!
2F 1 12 E 1 + 1 22 E 2
" #$ " #$
(373)
b=
l 1/d1 + 1/d2
124 BudynasNisbett: Shigleys I. Basics 3. Load and Stress Analysis The McGrawHill
Mechanical Engineering Companies, 2008
Design, Eighth Edition

Load and Stress Analysis 119

!, "
Figure 337
Magnitude of the stress 1.0
components below the surface
as a function of the maximum
pressure of contacting spheres. 0.8
Note that the maximum shear
!z
!Ratio of stress to pmax!

stress is slightly below the

surface at z = 0.48a and is 0.6
approximately 0.3pmax. The !x , !y
chart is based on a Poisson
ratio of 0.30. Note that the 0.4
normal stresses are all
"max
compressive stresses.
0.2

0 z
0 0.5a a 1.5a 2a 2.5a 3a
Distance from contact surface

Figure 338 F
F

(a) Two right circular cylinders x

held in contact by forces F x
uniformly distributed along
cylinder length l. (b) Contact d1
stress has an elliptical
distribution across the l
contact zone width 2b. y y

2b

d2

F
F
z z
(a) (b)

The maximum pressure is

2F
pmax = (374)
bl

Equations (373) and (374) apply to a cylinder and a plane surface, such as a rail, by
making d = for the plane surface. The equations also apply to the contact of a cylin-
der and an internal cylindrical surface; in this case d is made negative for the internal
surface.
 BudynasNisbett: Shigleys I. Basics 3. Load and Stress Analysis The McGrawHill 125
Mechanical Engineering Companies, 2008
Design, Eighth Edition

120 Mechanical Engineering Design

The stress state along the z axis is given by the equations

./ ) )0
z 2 )) z ))
x = 2pmax 1+ 2 ) ) (375)
b b

z2

1 + 2 b2
) )
) z )
y = pmax
/ 2)) )) (376)
z 2 b
1+ 2
b

pmax
3 = z = 7 (377)
1 + z 2 /b2

These three equations are plotted in Fig. 339 up to a distance of 3b below the surface.
For 0 z 0.436b, 1 = x , and max = (1 3 )/2 = (x z )/2. For z 0.436b,
1 = y , and max = ( y z )/2. A plot of max is also included in Fig. 339, where the
greatest value occurs at z/b = 0.786 with a value of 0.300 pmax .
Hertz (1881) provided the preceding mathematical models of the stress field when
the contact zone is free of shear stress. Another important contact stress case is line of
contact with friction providing the shearing stress on the contact zone. Such shearing
stresses are small with cams and rollers, but in cams with flatfaced followers, wheel-rail
contact, and gear teeth, the stresses are elevated above the Hertzian field. Investigations
of the effect on the stress field due to normal and shear stresses in the contact zone were
begun theoretically by Lundberg (1939), and continued by Mindlin (1949), Smith-Liu
(1949), and Poritsky (1949) independently. For further detail, see the reference cited in
Footnote 14.

!, "
Figure 339
Magnitude of the stress 1.0
components below the surface
as a function of the maximum
pressure for contacting 0.8
cylinders. The largest value of !y
!Ratio of stress to pmax!

!z
max occurs at z/b = 0.786.
Its maximum value is 0.6
0.30pmax. The chart is based
on a Poisson ratio of 0.30.
Note that all normal stresses 0.4
!x
are compressive stresses. "max

0.2

0 z
0 0.5b b 1.5b 2b 2.5b 3b
Distance from contact surface