Int..L Mech. Sci. Vol. 23, pp. 149-1_';9, 1981 Printed in Great Britain.

0020--7403181/030149-11502.00/0 Pergamon Press Ltd.

THE E F F E C T OF I N T E R F A C E FRICTION
ON THE I N P L A N E FLEXIBILITIES OF MACHINE TOOL JOINTS
T. D. SACHDEVA
Delhi College of Engineering, Delhi-! 10006, India

and
C. V. RAMAKRISHNAN Department of Applied Mechanics, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi-110029, India
(Received 30 January 1980; in revised form 6 November 1980)

Summary--The effect of interface friction between contact surfaces on the flexibilities of machine-tool joints is studied. The joint flexibility is determined by applying unit load successively at one end of the joint while keeping the other end fixed. Only plane problems have been taken up for consideration. A finite element based numerical procedure is used for solving the problem. Results are presented for the care of a hypothetical machine tool joint and dovetail joint for various values of friction coefficient. It is observed that the decrease in flexibility is only 15%for values of friction coefficient/z -- 0.2.

c,~, c~

NOTATION elements of the compliance matrix for bodies A and B respectively. Corresponds to displacement at point "i" due to a unit load at "j" external force at node "1" rigid body displacement vector for body B ~ r = (avO) #j,#; vectors of contact loads at point j of bodies A and B respectively pj, p; normal contact loads at joint "j" for a frictionless contact problem for bodies A and B respectively IT,] transformation matrix corresponding to node "i"

0,~,0,,

vector of displacements at node "i" for bodies A and B respectively initial clearance at node "i" coefficient of friction
1. INTRODUCTION

Joints are provided in the machine tools for functional purposes, for the ease of manufacture and ease of transportation. The joints can be classified as fixed joints and the sliding joints. The performance of the machine tools is influenced to a great extent by the stiffness and the damping properties of these joints. Most of tlie work carried out so far on the stiffness of the joints has assumed the components surrounding the joint surfaces as rigid and hence only the surface compliance has been considered for determining the stiffness. Recent work by Back et al. [1-3] has shown that deformation of the joints is due to surface compliance as well as due to deformation of the body of the joint. Their work has shown that in some joints, the effect of surface compliance on the total deformation is of the order of" 10% only. Hence for computing the stiffness of the joints, the deformation of the body of the joint must be taken into account. This problem can be treated as an elastic contact problem. As this is a non-linear problem, iterative procedure is the only possible method for solution. As the shape of the machine tool joints is very complex, the conventional solution of two elastic bodies in contact is not applicable to this case. Hence recourse has to be made to the powerful finite element method. Although a number of researchers have applied the finite element method to the elastic contact problems, the techniques used by them are highly iterative and need a large number of iterations and, therefore, these are expensive to use. All these methods neglect the surface compliance. The only methods to date which take into account the surface compliance are the methods used by Back et al. [2]. However, Back et al. have discovered that in most of the machine tool joints, the surface compliance is small as compared to the compliance of the body of the joint. These methods also need a large number of iterations.
149

150

T.D. SACHDEVAand C. V. RAMAKRISHANAN 2. METHOD OF ANALYSIS

The simple technique used by Francavilla and Zienkiewicz[4] for frictionless elastic contact with displacement boundary conditions has been extended by the authors [5] to handle frictionless contact with force boundary conditions and further generalized to handle situations where the effect of interface friction is to be included [6]. A brief description of these two methods is presented here. Further details of the methods can be found in the references cited above. It is to be noted that proportionate loading has been assumed. For arbitrary loading histories incremental loading procedure has to be used. Two elastic bodies A and B are shown in Fig. 1, before they come in contact. The body A is acted upon by a force vector [ while the body B has fixed boundary conditions. The necessary rigid body movement of the supports of body B to bring about the contact and result in the force vector [ at the boundary nodes can be expressed by the vector G such that
=
. (l)

The displacements of the points iB in the direction normal to the boundary in contact are given by
m

u, ~ = ~. c,~p;+ [:r, ld

(2)

where "m" is the number of nodes in contact, plis the contact force normal to the boundaryof body B, C~ are the flexibility coefficients of body B, obtained after static condensation and inversion and [T,] is a kinematic transformation matrix. For the nodes in contact, the compatibility of displacements of the two bodies in the direction normal to the contact surface gives the equation.
m k

(c~, c,~)p, - [ r , ] d = - ~ c~...,f, + t~;

~3)

where "m" is the number of nodes in contact, Pi is the contact force normal to the boundary of body A, k is the number of nodes with external forces, [t is the Ith element of the vector of external forces, C~ are the flexibility coefficients of the body A and U/is the vector of clearances in the normal direction between the corresponding nodes of the two bodies. In equation (3) it is obvious that the node numbers 1,2... m are contact nodes while (m + 1), (m + 2)... (m + k) correspond to the nodes with external loads. In the analysisprocedure, however, the node numberingcan be arbitrary but a one to one correspondence exists between these (m + k) nodes and the corresponding nodal nicknames. The compliance matrices [C~] and [C~] are obtained through an appropriate static condensationprocedure described in Ref. [5]. The transformationmatrix [Tl] is given in Appendix 1. As the flexibilitycoefficient of the body A are obtaiued after assumingtwo imaginary support points, the additional ~hree equations necessary for solving equation (3) and releasing the imaginary fixity of body A are the three equililJrium equations of body A. The above technique for the frictionless contact has been generalized to handle contact problems with friction. In this case the compatibility of displacements is applied for both normal and tangential directions for those nodes which adhere to the corresponding nodes. For the nodes which slip, compatibility of displacements is applied for the normal direction and slip conditionis applied in the tangential direction. The following equation is obtained for the nodes which adhere to each other.
m _
_

,E., (c~ + c~):, - [r,]a = - ~., C~.+dk + u

(4)

FIG. 1. Bodies A and B before contact.

The effect of interface friction

151

for i = 1,2, 3 . . . . . m where " m " is the number of nodes in contact and e is the number of nodes with external forces lC~]and[C~]are2 x 2submatricesofflexibilitycoefficients,p~isthevectorofcontactforcesatthenodej, in the tangential and normal d~rect~on,.fk is the vector of external forces at the kth loaded node and U~ ~sthe vector of clearances at the node i. For the nodes which slip in the tangential direction, the equations corresponding to tangential direction in equation (4) are replaced by
' " " --- o

p/ = ~p~"

(5)

where p / a n d pj" are the tangential and the normal forces respectively at the jth contact node and ~t is the coefficient of friction at the interface. In practice, the contact region is not known a priori and some nodes may be slipping while the others may not. Hence for such problems iterative procedure is necessary and checks are necessary to identify the nodes losing contact and those wherein slip occurs. A brief description of the algorithm is as follows further details with illustrative examples can be found in Ref. [6]. 1. A set of nodal points are assumed to be in contact. 2. Equation (4) alongwith the equilibrium equations are solved for the normal and tangential components of nodal loads. 3. The ratio of nodal force in the tangential direction to that in the normal direction is calculated at all the nodes. If this ratio is greater than the coefficient of friction (~) between the two surfaces at any node, slipping of nodes is implied. 4. The portion of equation (4) corresponding to the tangential direction is replaced by equation (5) and a new solution obtained. 5. Steps -4arerepeateduntilanrmafrcesinthecntactznecomeuttbepsitivenyandtherati of tangential to normal force for all the nodes in contact is either equal to or less than/~. To study the effect of function at the interface on the inplane flexihilities of machine tool joints, the techniques stated above have been used. Following assumptions have been made in the study: (i) The effect of surface compliance has been neglected. (ii) Metal to metal contact is assumed. (iii) Contact surfaces are assumed to be flat. (iv) The effect of the presence of clearances is neglected. (v) The effect of tightening of the joint on the joint flexihilities is neglected. Throughout the present study, eight noded quadratic isoparametric elements have been used and a state of plane strain has been assumed. A 2 x 2 Gaussian integration is used. The solution of equations is achieved using Gaussian elimination procedure with Frontal Housekeeping algorithm. The following joints have been taken up for the study: (i) Hypothetical joint with contact surfaces normal to the axis of the joint. (ii) Dove-tail joint. In each of the two joints, the effect of friction on the axial as well as rotational flexibilities and the effect of load for a particular value of frictional coefficient has been studied. The modulus of elasticity of the material is taken as 0.931 108 kPa. In each case the load has been applied through a layer of stiff elements outside the portion of the joint under consideration. These elements are assumed to have modulus of elasticity 100 times those of the normal elements. 3. HYPOTHETICAL JOINT WITH CONTACT SURFACES NORMAL TO THE AXIS OF THE JOINT 3.1 Axial flexibility The hypothetical sliding joint shown in Fig. 2(a) is considered for studying the inplane flexibility in the axial direction. The finite element mesh is also shown in Fig. 2(a). The p a r t " A " has 42 elements with total 322 degrees of freedom (DF) while part " B " has 46 elements with 392 DF. Equal load is assumed to be applied at 4 nodes as shown. Displacement of the face CD is computed for a total load of 980 N while the coefficient of friction at the interface of part " A " and part " B " is varied from 0.0 to 0.4. Computations are also carried out by keeping the coefficient of friction # = 0.2 and varying the magnitude of the load. The deformed shape of the joint after application of load is also shown in Fig. 2(a) to an enlarged scale for # = 0.2 and total load of 980 N. Both for the frictionless contact and contact with friction, after application of the load, only 12 nodes remain in contact although 14 nodes are assumed in contact to start iteration. To solve for frictionless contact, only 2 iterations are needed. However, when friction at the interface is considered, 3 iterations are necessary in all the cases to converge to the final solution. All the nodes in the contact region are found to be slipping in the tangential direction relative to the corresponding nodes of the other part. The variation of axial displacement with load for # = 0.2 is shown in Fig. 2(b) while the percentage change in flexibility compared to the frictionless contact for different values of p~is shown in Fig. 2(c). In Fig. 2(c) 80 is the axial displacement for the frictionless contact while 8, is the displacement for the contact with friction. As the Fig. 2(b) shows, displace ment is directly proportional to the load, i.e. the axial flexibility is constant for a particular value of interface friction. From Fig. 2(c), it is evident that the deviation in flexibility goes on increasing with increase in friction but it is not a linear variation. The computer time needed for the solution of this problem varied from ll to 17 rain. 3.2 Rotational flexibility The hypothetical joint shown in Fig. 3(a) is considered for computing the inplane rotational flexibility. The finite element mesh is also shown in Fig. 3(a). The number of elements and the degrees of freedom for this case is the same as for the axial loading. Equal and opposite loads of 490 N are applied at two nodes as shown in Fig. 3(a) and the value of/z is varied from 0.0 to 0.4. The effect of varying the load for a constant value of ~ = 0' 1 is also studied. The deformed shape for contact with friction for # = 0.1 is also shown in Fig. 3(a). For frictionless
MS Vol. 23. No. 3--C

152

T.D. SACHDEVA and C. V. RAMAKRISHANAN

contact after application of the load, 9 nodes are found to be in contact while for contact with friction, 7 nodes remain in contact. At the beginning, 12 nodes are assumed to be in contact in both the cases. Solution for frictionless contact needs 2 iterations while 4 iterations are necessary for solution with friction. The variation of rotation of face CD with load for ~ = O. 1 is shown in Fig. 3(b) while percentage deviation in rotation from frifionless contact for different values of ~ is shown in Fig. 3(c). In Fig. 3(c), 0ois the rotation for the frictionless contact while #, is the rotation when the effect of friction is taken into account. These curves also show the same characteristics as for the axial case. The computer time varying from 15 to 17 rain is required for this case.

2&$N

245N

2&SN

24SN

RI
oF-~1

II--IZ
m

memmm ,i

S0mm 1&0mm
100 mm

E
o

jJ ,0.2 ~ iii.,* DEFORMATIONSCALE "~ i i 0 20 &O QO I10 100pro

l")h mm h

rr.~lrlr~ .Fii/iJl 41

200ram

FIG. 2(a).

.8

.7

O ~4 ~J v

i
1 2

I
3

LOAD (NxlO 3)
FIG. 2(b).

The effect of interface friction

153

3 ~[ o2
" " j

AXIAL LOAD" 980N

ol,/ o.o

I o.1

I 0.2

l o.3

I o.~.

FIG. 2. Finite element mesh and deformation of the hypothetical joint under axial loading (# = 0.2). (b). Variation of displacement with axial load for the hypothetical joint (/~ = 0.2). (c). Effect of friction on axial deformation for the hypothetical joint (Axial load = 980 N).

4. DOVE-TAIL JOINT 4.1 Axial flexibility To study the effect of friction on a typical machine tool joint, the knee-column joint of an actual milling machine is considered. The joint, the finite element mesh and the loading for studying the inplane axial flexibility are shown in Fig. 4(a). The part"A" has 50 elements with 362 DF while part"B" has also 50 elements with 398DF. The displacement of the face CD is computed for a total load of 4900 N when the coefficient of friction at the interface varies from 0-0 to 0.4. Displacements are also computed for/,i. = 0.2 when the magnitude of the load is varied from 2450 N to 9800 N. The deformed shape of the right half of the joint is shown in Fig. 4(a) for/z = 0.2 and ~ = 0.0. After application of the load, only 10 nodes remain in contact both for the frictionless contact and contact with friction although 14 nodes are assumed in contact at the outset. Solution for frictionless contact needs 3 iterations. Four iterations are necessary to solve if the effect of friction is included. All the nodes in contact are found to be slipping. The variation of axial displacement with load for # = 0.2 is shown in Fig. ~b). The percentage change in axial flexibility compared to the frictionless contacts for different values of ~ is shown in Fig. 4(c). The computer time required for solving this case varied from 17 to 20 rain.

490N

490N

i
c

2'
~,, 0.1

-I D

,.,

DE FORMATION SCALE 0 10 20 $0 4Opm

FIG. 3(a).

154

T.D. SACHDEVAand C. V. RAMAKP-JSHANAN

3,5

3.(]

2.5 14=0.1

i 1.5

1.0

.5

0 &0 (b). 80
MOMENT (Nm)

120

J 100

101-

x ~o:~

MOMENT- 3

01 0.0

I 0.1
(c).

I 0.2
p.

i 0.3

J 0.4

FIG. 3(a). Finite element mesh and deformation pattern of the hypothetical joint under moment loading (p, = 0. I). (b). Variation of roation with applied moment for the hypothetical joint (/~ = 0-1). (c) Effect of friction on rotation for the hypothetical joint (Moment = 39.2 Nm).

The effect of interface friction

155

E E
L_
/I///////J

100ram

_I

2_
--IrE E

,, 100ram

.,_.~.~--=~..~-~"-7,// / ~= // /t',,,'
A
,I

i
/ I_------

tE
E
eN

///~" " ' ' ' "

R R R

E E ._L
p =0 p=O2

--~

145mm 980N

J: 0.2 | p=0

)80N
/

L-

80 m m

_.~
r I

. . . .

DEFORMATION SCALE 0 100 200 300 1.00 500pro

FIG. 4(a).

.$

p-0.2

12 .2
K

UJ

I1,1

!
2 & 6 8

J 10

LOAD

( N x 1 0 3)

FIG. 4.(b).

156 30

T.D. SACHDEVA and C. V. RAMAKRISHANAN

2~

2C

AXIAL LOAOm4000 N

'

L
10~

0 0.0

I
(11

I
(12

I
(Z3

J
0.4

(c)
FIG. 4(a). Finite element mesh and deformation pattern of knee-column joint under axial loading (~ = 0.2). (b). Variation of displacement with axial load for the knee-column joint (tt = 0.2). (c). Effect of friction on axial deformation for the knee-column joint (Axial load = 4900 N). 4.2 Rotational flexibility The finite element mesh and the loading for studying the inplane rotational flexibility for the same joint, is shown in Fig. 5(a). As earlier, for this case also computations are carried out for one value of loading and different values of ~ as well as for one value of tz and different values of loading. The deformed shape of the joint for contact with friction is shown in Fig, 5(a) for tz -- 0.2. The variation of rotation of face CD with load for ~ = 0.2 is shown in Fig. 5(b). The effect of friction on the rotation of face CD is shown in Fig. 5(c). This case needed a computer time varying from 23 to 28 rain. 5. CONCLUSIONS

From the present study, the following conclusions can be drawn:

(l) For a particular size and shape of the joint and a particular type of loading, the contact region is not much affected by the magnitude of the load. This is so because the deformation due to bending is more dominant as compared to the local deformations in the contact zone.
I~, 0.2

/
~-- . . . . . . / / / ~ . .4 J ..

\~N

ZL"
~90 N 980 N

t \ "I

[
/.90 N

Ii~//

,
9e0 N

0 I[FORMATION SCALE
; i

50 100 150 200 250 [am

FIG. 5(a).

The

effect

of interface

friction

157

15

10
0 x Z 9[ C~ q[ CC Z

o
CC

0 0

3 ~ $ MOMNT (Nm x 10 2 )
5(b).

4c

3(

s
x 2(:

~o

0.0

0.1

0.2 /z

0.3

0.4

5(c).
FIG. 5(a). Finite element mesh and deformation pattern of the knee-column joint under moment loading ( p = 0.2). (b). V a r i a t i o n o f rotation with applied moment for the knee column joint (/~ = 0-2). (c). Effect o f f r i c t i o n on rotation for the knee-column joint ( A p p l i e d m o m e n t = 200 Nm).

(ii) The deformation of the joint is directly proportional to the load applied, i.e. flexibility of the joint is constant. (iii) The flexibility of the joint goes on decreasing as the friction at the interface increases but the variationisnotlinear.Thedecreaseinflexibilityupto/z = 0.2is small, i.e. it is of the order of 15%. (iv) Solution for frictionless contact needs lesser number of iterations as compared to solution with friction.

158

T.D. SACHDEVA and C. V.

RAMAKRISHANAN

Acknowledgements--The authors are grateful to the staffof the Delhi University Computer Centre for their help. The first author is thankful to the Delhi Administration for sponsoring him to I.I.T. Delhi for higher studies. Both the authors acknowledge their useful discussions with Dr. R. Natarajan.

1. N. BACK, M. BURCLEKIN and A. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

REFERENCES Review of the research on fixed and sliding joints. Proc. 13th Int. Machine Tool Design and Research Con[. 1972. N. BACK. M. BURDEKIN and A. COWLEY, Pressure distribution and deformations of machined components in contact. Int. J. Mech. Sci. 15(12), 993-1010 (1973), N. BACK, M. BURDEKIN and A. COWLEY, Analysis of machine tool joints by finite element method. Proc. 14th Int. Machine Tool Design and Research Con[. 529-537 (1973). A. FRANCAVILLAand O. C. ZIENKIEWICZ, A note on numerical computation of elastic contact problems. Int. J. Num. Meth. in Engng 9, 913--924 (1975). T. O. SACHDEVA, C . V. RAMAKRISHNAN and R. NATARAJAN, A finite element method for the elastic contact problems. Paper accepted for publication, J. Engng Production, Trans. ASME Z. D. SACHDEVA and C. V. RAMAKRISHNAN, A finite element solution for the elastic contact problems with friction. Paper communicated to Int. J. Num. Meth. Engng. T. D. SACrlDEVA, Finite element analysis of elastic contact problem and its application for the study of the effect of joint flexibility on free vibration characteristics of machine tool structures. Ph.D. Thesis, I.I.T. Delhi (1979).
COWLEY,

APPENDIX 1

Kinematic trans[ormation matrix

Let point R in Fig. 6 be a point on the rigid supports of body B. The transformation matrix [ ~ ] for the node i s for displacements normal to the boundary at i D is given by [Ti] = [sin 4~ cos 4, - x cos ~ - y sin ,hi (9)

where d, is angle made by the tangent to the boundary at the point i s with the gioba X axis as shown in Fig. 6.

Yj
TANGENT ~" ~ / / AT
.B /

/ L

~X

FIG. 6. Computation of transformation matrix. Also

X = Xl -- Xr Y = Yi -- Yr

where xl and x, are the x coordinates of the points i a and R respectively and yl and y, are the y coordinates of the points i B and R respectively. APPENDIX 2

The finite element technique for flexibility coe~fcients

In the finite element method, the stiffness matrices of the individual elements are assembled to give the stiffness matrix of the structure. As the stiffness properties of a node are influenced only by the elements surrounding it, the elimination is carried out at the same time as assembly. Hence if the stiffness matrix of a few specified nodes is needed, all that is necessary is to avoid the elimination of these nodes during the process of assembly and solution. The flexibility matrix and hence the flexibility coel~cients are obtained by inverting the condensed stiffness matrix obtained at the end of elimination. 1. Additional imaginary elements formed by the set of nodes in contact and the nodes with external forces are assumed. 2. After applying the necessary boundary conditions and transformations, the assembly and the elimination loop is carried through the actual number of elements only. 3. At the end of assembly and elimination, the vector stores in the working space is condensed and reordered to give the stiffness matrix.

The effect of interface friction

159

4. The stiffness matrix so obtained is inverted to give the flexibility matrix. 5. As frictionless contact is assumed and the displacements of the point " i " in the direction only normal to the contact surface are needed, alternate rows and columns of the flexibility matrix obtained above give the coefficients C~ and C~. However as the external force can be along the global X as well as Y directions, alternate rows and all the columns from the relevant portion of the flexibility matrix give the coefficients C:.~+t.