Fluid Pressurization and Entrapment Effects on the SIFs of Cracks produced under lubricated Rolling-Sliding Contact Fatigue

Abstract Pitting is one of the causes of failure for mechanical components subjected to rolling contact fatigue. In the present article, a FE model is described in which a 2D half-space with an edge crack is affected by a travelling contact load produced by a cylindrical body. The contact load is not approximated as usual by an analytical pressure distribution but the actual mating body is modelled. The presence of lubricant between the mating bodies and inside the crack is taken into account and its effect on the crack is modelled via hydrostatic elements. The lubricant is assumed to be entrapped into the crack by the external body when the latter covers the crack mouth, that is, the crack is sealed by the contact area and not by the contact between the crack faces (fluid entrapment mechanism). The pressure of the fluid is calculated via an iterative procedure by assuming that its volume stays constant inside the crack. Comparisons between this model and the alternative fluid pressurization mechanism have been made. The outcomes suggest that the fluid pressures inside the crack produced by the fluid entrapment mechanism tend to those of the fluid pressurization mechanisms as the crack becomes short.