The influence of spin on creep forces for non-flat contact area

In many situations the contact area between rolling elements is curved. The examples are roller bearings and the railway wheel. For moderately curved contact area the methods of contact mechanics employing the half-space assu mption for elasticity can be and are used to obtain some approximation of t he exact solution - which is presently not available. Far such cases an app roximate method is proposed to calculate creep forces. It has been shown wi th some examples that the differences between this approach and one employi ng assumption of the flatness of the contact area may be significant as far as creep forces are concerned.