An idealised description of the frictional receding contact behaviour of a bolted joint

Abstract This paper proposes a description for the contact behaviour of bolted joints through the solution of the frictional axisymmetric receding contact of a semi-infinite layer pressed against an elastically similar half-space by uniform pressure over a disc of radius b . First, the contact is assumed to be adhered and closed, and a bilateral solution is obtained. The adhered solution is then corrected using an integral formulation based on a kernel of circular dislocation loop to describe the interfacial tractions at the regions where partial slip and opening occur. A numerical solution is obtained for the corrected tractions and radius of slip and opening.