Modeling and analysis on line contact performance of considering heterogeneous properties of material

A numerical modeling approach of the elastic field under line contacts was proposed with taking the heterogeneous properties of the materials into consideration. The method was on the basis of the numerical equivalent inclusion method (NEIM), utilizing the rectangular heterogeneous material as the basic element. Integrated with the method of images, the elastic field of the materials under line contacts could be solved. Taking advantage of the methods of comparison validation, parametric analysis and examples of verification, the result yielded by the new method was compared with the result produced by the finite element method (FEM) and conventional equivalent inclusion method (EIM), and investigated the effects of heterogeneous material distribution parameters on the contact performance of material under line contacts. The results show that the new method is more advantageous than the FEM and the conventional EIM, and able to handle and simplify the coating problem and the line contact of randomly distributed heterogeneous material. Different locations of heterogeneous material may make the maximum von Mises stress of the matrix become bigger or smaller. The size of heterogeneous material and the difference between the heterogeneous material and the matrix may influence the stress concentration level of the matrix.