RANDOM CANTOR SET MODELS FOR THE ELASTIC PERFECTLY PLASTIC CONTACT OFROUGH SURFACES

The objective of this study was to formulate discrete and continuous s patial models to describe the elastic-perfectly plastic deformation of two rough surfaces in contact. The two surfaces in contact are assume d to exhibit fractal behavior and are modeled as an effective fractal surface compressed into a smooth rigid substrate. The rough self-affin e fractal structure of the effective surface is approximated by a rand om Canter set representation embedded in two dimensions. Both of the p roposed models admit analytical solutions whether the plastic deformat ion is volume conserving or not. Presented results illustrate the effe cts that volume conservation and initial surface structure have on the elastic-perfectly plastic deformation process. The results from the c ontinuous model are compared with the results obtained from the discre te model, and existing experimental load displacement data for the def ormation of a bead-blasted steel surface.