ON THE OBLIQUE COMPRESSION OF 2 ELASTIC SPHERES

In this note Walton's (1987) force-displacement relations for a contac t between two identical elastic spheres are discussed. The relations a re based on the solution for the oblique compression of two elastic sp heres (Walton, 1978) which is rederived here in a simple fashion that relates it to Mindlin's (1949) solution for contact stress. Specific l imitations of these relations are reviewed and it is demonstrated that misusing the relations leads to thermodynamic inconsistencies.