Boundary Element Analyses on the Adhesive Contact between an Elastic Cylinder and a Rigid Half-Space

Boundary element method is used to analyze the adhesive contact between an elastic cylinder and a rigid half-space. Lennard-Jones potential is used for the surface traction. In the past, the simulation for the adhesive contact between cylinders usually used parabolic approximation for cylinder surface, and used line loading acting on a half-space. Since line loading may cause infinite deformation, only contact half-width/load relation and pull-off force can be obtained. In this paper, the adhesive contact between an exact elastic cylinder and a rigid half-space is investigated. The S-shaped load-approach curve and the whole solution are obtained. Using the load-approach curves, the pull-off force, pull-off distance and jump-in distance are obtained. The effects of Tabor parameter and radius are investigated. The result is compared with the numerical simulation for the adhesive contact between an elastic parabolically approximated cylinder and a rigid half-space and the two-dimensional JKR model. For large Tabor parameters, two-dimensional JKR model can approximate the adhesive contact. For small Tabor parameters, two-dimensional Bradley model can approximate the adhesive contact. The radii do affect the load-approach relation for large Tabor parameters, and have very small effects for small Tabor parameters. A semi-rigid cylinder model is proposed. This model can predict the load-approach curves for small Tabor parameters and can predict the jump-in distance for large Tabor parameters. In addition, a modified load-approach relation for two-dimensional JKR model is proposed. This relation can approximate the load-approach relation and predict the pull-off distance for large Tabor parameters. It is also found that the radius does not affect the pull-off force.