Friction and instability of steady sliding: Squeal of a rubber/glass contact

The dynamic instability of steady sliding states of finite-dimensional fric tional contact systems with non-linear elastic behaviour is analysed. An al gorithm for the computation of those steady sliding states and a sufficient condition for their instability, based on the resolution of a generalized eigenvalue problem, are presented. Flutter instabilities due to the non-ass ociative character of the Coulomb friction law are shown to occur for a fin ite element model of a rubber-like waist seal sliding on a glass window tha t is known to generate squeal noise. The consequences of those Butter insta bilities are assessed by computing various finite element dynamic solutions in the neighbourhood of steady sliding. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & So ns, Ltd.