A VARIATIONAL METHOD FOR SOLVING THE CONTACT PROBLEM IN THE THEORY OFELASTICITY WITH FRICTION

The problem of the contact interaction of an elastic body with a rigid support with Coulomb friction in the contact area is considered. It i s assumed that the contact area is known and does not change during lo ading, and the displacements and their gradients are small. The influe nce of tangential displacements on the contact pressure is investigate d. The sufficient conditions for which no such effect occurs are formu lated. The existence and uniqueness of a generalized solution of the v ariational formulation of the problem is proved using the operator of the influence of displacements on the contact pressure. (C) 1997 Elsev ier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.