Viscoelastic reciprocating contacts in presence of finite rough interfaces: A numerical investigation

Viscoelastic reciprocating contacts are crucial in a number of systems, ranging from sealing components to viscoelastic dampers. Roughness plays in these conditions a central role, but no exhaustive assessment in terms of influence on area, separation and friction has been drawn so far. This is due to the huge number of time and space scales involved in the problem. By means of an innovative Boundary Element methodology, which treats the time as a parameter and then requires only to discretize the space domain, we investigate the viscoelastic reciprocating contact mechanics between rough solids. In particular, we consider the alternate contact of a rigid finite-size rough punch over a viscoelastic layer: the importance of the domain finiteness in the determination of the contact area and the contact solution anisotropy is enlightened. Implications on real system may be drawn on this basis. Finally, we focus on the hysteretic cycle related to the viscoelastic tangential forces.