1. Contact surfaces and pressures

We study the contact between two solids where the contact (following approach without deformation) is initially made at a point or along a line. The aim is to determine the stresses generated by this contact, with a view to selecting a suitable material or determining the maximum load that can be withstood to avoid permanent deformation or fatigue damage. As point and line contacts require different calculations, the results will be presented in separate paragraphs. Results for the general case of point contact are presented in paragraph 1.3.1 , with results for the particular case of sphere-on-plane in...