Thermoelastic Contact Between Bodies With Wavy Surfaces

The problem treated involves two elastic solids with wavy surfaces that are pressed together and at the same time exchange heat by conduction because of an externally imposed temperature gradient. The conventional boundary conditions of no interface resistance to heat flow in the contact zones, and no heat transmission in the separation zones are adopted. It is found that the contact tractions are compressive if heat flows into the material with the higher distortivity (essentially the thermal coefficient of expansion divided by the thermal conductivity). For heat flow in the opposite direction, however, the conventional boundary conditions lead to some tensile tractions at the ends of the contact zones. The same observation has also been made by Barber who considered the indentation of an elastic solid by a rigid sphere that is either heated or cooled. The modification of the boundary conditions proposed by Barber, and which maintains linearity, is mentioned parenthetically.