International Journal of Fatigue 25 (2003) 633–640

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Simplified method to determine contact stress distribution and

stress intensity factors in fretting fatigue
T. Kimura a, K. Sato b,∗
a
Graduate School of Science and Technology, Chiba University, 1-33 Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8522, Japan
b
Department of Urban Environment Systems, Faculty of Engineering, Chiba University, 1-33 Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8522, Japan

Received 17 May 2002; received in revised form 8 October 2002; accepted 28 October 2002

Abstract

In this paper, first, a procedure to calculate the stress intensity factors, KI and KII, of the oblique crack initiated under fretting
fatigue conditions is described, and secondly, a technique for determining the distributions of contact pressure and friction stress
at the contact interface between plate and fretting pad is proposed. Finally, the computer program, which can calculate KI and KII
for arbitrary geometrical and loading conditions, is developed. The program is also applicable to the study of fretting fatigue crack
propagation mechanism.
 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Fretting fatigue; Stress intensity factor; Stress distribution

1. Introduction ciple of superposition. Their approach is well applicable

Fretting fatigue [1] occurs in mechanical parts and
engineering structures subjected to the repeated relative
movement. Fretting causes a significant reduction in
fatigue strength and hence it is one of the most important
considerations in designing and maintaining them. In
fretting fatigue, a number of micro-cracks are initiated
at the edge of the contact region, and then some of them
are grown by the combined loading consisting of contact
pressure, friction stress and bulk fatigue stress. As a
result, the location of the main crack is oblique to the
contact surface in the early stage of crack growth, and
becomes gradually normal with further crack growth [2].
The reduction of life in fretting fatigue is due to early
crack initiation and high growth rate in the short crack
region.
In order to clarify the crack growth mechanism in fret-
ting fatigue, the stress intensity factors have been studied
[3–7]. Rooke and Jones [3] have derived the solution for
stress intensity factors of KI and KII under fretting load-
ings by using the Green’s function method and the prin-
∗
Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +81-43-290-3215.
E-mail address: ksato@tu.chiba-u.ac.jp (K. Sato).
to study fretting mechanisms. Although the crack mor-
phology is limited to cracks perpendicular to the surface,
the effects of contact pressure and frictional stress on
stress intensity factors have been successfully analyzed.
Edwards [5] has applied the solution [3] to obtain stress
intensity factors, KI and KII, for seven types of contact
stress distributions. The scheme of Rooke and Jones
using Green’s function and the principle of superposition
has been expanded to the morphology of oblique crack
by the authors [4], and Green’s functions for an oblique
edge crack, which is subjected to stresses on its crack
line, have been analyzed. The results were summarized
in the general expressions of KI and KII for crack angle,
crack length and the distribution of contact stress. The
details of the scheme and its application will be pub-
lished elsewhere [7]. It has been pointed out in the afore-
mentioned studies that the contact stress distribution and
crack angle have significant effects on the stress intensity
factors [6,7]. Therefore, real distributions of contact
stress should be adopted in order to calculate accurate
stress intensity factors.
The finite and the boundary element methods are usu-
ally used to obtain the contact stress distributions.
Although useful in many cases, these methods require
complicated procedures for modeling, calculation, post-

0142-1123/03/$ - see front matter  2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0142-1123(02)00176-7
634 T. Kimura, K. Sato / International Journal of Fatigue 25 (2003) 633–640
processing etc. The main purpose of this paper, there-
fore, is to develop the computer program, which can
compute the stress intensity factors by simpler pro-
cedures. The boundary element method was applied for
various geometrical and loading conditions, thus the
database of contact stress distributions was established.
By interpolating contact stress distributions from the
database, the exact contact stress distribution and stress
intensity factors for any arbitrary geometrical and load-
ing condition of fretting fatigue can be determined.
2. Analytical procedure
2.1. Formulation of stress intensity factors in fretting
fatigue
A two-dimensional model of fretting fatigue shown in
Fig. 1, used by other researchers [5–7], was adopted for
the boundary element analysis. In the figure, a plate in
contact with a fretting pad is subjected to contact press-
ure, friction stress and fatigue stress. It is assumed that
a single straight crack initiates at the contact edge of the
fretting pad. The authors [4] have previously derived the
general expressions, which can be used to calculate the
stress intensity factors for the oblique crack in fretting
fatigue. By substituting the values of crack length a,
crack angle q, pad width pw, plate width W, fatigue
stress s, distributions of contact pressure P(y) and fric-
tion stress Q(y) into the expressions, the stress intensity
factors of both KI, and KII can be easily calculated. The
contact pressure is denoted by P(y), friction stress by
Q(y), and y is the distance from the crack mouth.
Fig. 1. Fretting fatigue analysis model.
Fig. 2 illustrates the solution process. In Fig. 2(a), the
normal and tangential forces acting on the surface of the
crack at the edge of a plate per unit thickness are denoted
by dp and dq, respectively. Green’s functions for dp and
dq have been determined using boundary element
method to obtain the stress intensity factors for arbitrary
stress distributions along the crack as shown in Fig. 2(b).
In Fig. 2(c), the forces per unit thickness dP and dQ are
acting at the edge of the plate in normal and tangential
direction, respectively. Green’s functions for dP and dQ
have been derived based on the principle of superpo-
sition. For any arbitrary distributions of contact pressure
and friction stress on the surface of the plate in Fig. 2(d),
Green’s functions for dP and dQ are integrated to obtain
the stress intensity factors. The stress intensity factor due
to bulk fatigue stress s, shown previously in Fig. 1, is
obtained separately by boundary element analysis. Then,
the total stress intensity factor is calculated by adding
the three components of stress intensity factors due to
contact pressure, friction stress and fatigue stress.
2.2. Analysis of contact stress distribution
Elastic boundary element analyses under various geo-
metrical and loading conditions were performed to
obtain the distributions of contact pressure P(y) and fric-
Fig. 2. Schematic illustration of the solution process: (a) internal
loads, (b) distribution of internal loads, (c) external loads, and (d) dis-
tribution of external loads.
 T. Kimura, K. Sato / International Journal of Fatigue 25 (2003) 633–640 635

tion stress Q(y) at the contact interface and to establish Table 1

a database. In the boundary element program, the penalty Calculation parameters used in the boundary element analysis
method to solve the contact problem was introduced.
Crack length a Crack Friction Fatigue stress s (MPa)
Hence, the contact stress distribution and the three con- (mm) angle q coefficient
tact states of stick, slip and open at each element can be (deg) m
determined after some iteration. The contact state of
crack surfaces was assumed to be open throughout all 0.01 2.0 0 0 0 3.0
calculations. The geometry, loading and boundary con- 0.1 2.5 15 0.3 0.1 4.0
ditions of the boundary element analysis model used in 0.3 3.0 30 0.5 0.3 5.0
0.5 3.5 45 0.7 0.5
the calculations are shown in Fig. 3. Fatigue stress s and 0.7 4.0 0.9 0.7
contact stress P0 were given as the uniform distributions 0.9 4.5 0.9
at the end of the plate and the fretting pad, respectively. 1.0 5.0 1.0
The contact boundary between the plate and the fretting 1.5 2.0
pad, having the width of pw, was meshed by very fine
elements, thus 213 nodes were created at positions yi /
pw (i = 1,2,3, …, 213) where y is the distance from the meters a/pw, q, m and s/P0 to establish a database. The
crack mouth. Both the plate and the fretting pad were effect of ph on stress intensity factor is nearly negligible
assumed to be made of steel with Young’s modulus E for ph/pw greater than about 2.5. The database can be
= 206 GPa and Poisson’s ratio v = 0.33. The plate width, applied for arbitrary values of pw under the condition of
W, and the plate height, H, were set as constant values sufficiently large ph/pw.
of 25 and 100 mm, respectively. It was confirmed that
the W and H values are sufficiently large and do not 2.3. Interpolation of contact stress distribution
affect the contact stress distribution for the fretting pad
having the width, pw, of 10 mm and the height, ph, of The technique of interpolation was used to obtain the
25 mm. On the constant contact stress condition of P0 contact stress distribution from the established database
= 1 MPa, analyses were carried out with various values for any arbitrary values of the four parameters a/pw, q,
of four parameters: crack length a, crack angle q, friction m and s/P0. At each of 213 nodes, the magnitudes of
of coefficient m and fatigue stress s, as outlined in Table normal stress, P(yi/pw), and tangential stress, Q(yi/pw),
1. The calculated values of normal and tangential specified by a set of four parameters a/pw, q, m and s/P0,
stresses at the 213 nodes of contact boundary, rep- are calculated by four-dimensional interpolation with the
resented by P(yi/pw) and Q(yi / pw) (i = 1,2,3, …, 213), least square approximation. In each dimension of interp-
respectively, can be summarized and arranged by para- olation, the third-degree equation, based on the values
of the nearest four points, is used. For example, in Table
1, known values at s / P0 = 0.9, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 are used
for unknown value at s / P0 = 1.5. Thus, by using interp-
olation with the established database, normal and tan-

Fig. 3. Boundary element analysis model. Fig. 4. A flow chart for calculating the stress intensity factors.
636 T. Kimura, K. Sato / International Journal of Fatigue 25 (2003) 633–640

Fig. 5. A screen capture of the program.

Fig. 6. Distributions of contact pressure derived from boundary element analyses.

gential stresses at each node along the contact area can
be calculated for arbitrary values of the four parameters.
2.4. Calculation of stress intensity factors
As described in Section 2.2, boundary element analy-
ses to establish the database were performed using the
constant value of P0 = 1 MPa. Therefore, the interpolated
stresses at each node, P(yi/pw) and Q(yi/pw), are multi-
plied by required value of P0. However, occurrence of
relative slip at the interface is a possibility which is not
taken into account by the program presented in this
paper. Furthermore, taking into account the value of the
pad width pw, those multiplied values are represented as
a function of y, for normal stresses and tangential
stresses P∗(yi) and Q∗(yi) (i = 1,2,3, …, 213), respect-
ively.
The stress intensity factor due to pad load distribution
over a section between two neighboring nodes, yi and
yi+1, is calculated by using first-degree equations of the
contact pressure and friction stress obtained from P∗(yi)
and P∗(yi+1), and Q∗(yi) and Q∗(yi+1).
 T. Kimura, K. Sato / International Journal of Fatigue 25 (2003) 633–640 637

Fig. 7. Distributions of friction stress derived from boundary element analyses.

Fig. 8. Variations of mode I and mode II stress intensity factors in fretting fatigue with fatigue stress s. Lines represent the results of interpolation
for different values of crack length, crack angle and friction coefficient. Plots represent the results of conventional boundary element analysis.
638 T. Kimura, K. Sato / International Journal of Fatigue 25 (2003) 633–640

Fig. 9. Variation of mode I stress intensity factor with crack angle Fig. 10. Variation of mode II stress intensity factor with crack angle
and crack length for (a) plain fatigue and (b) fretting fatigue. and crack length for (a) plain fatigue and (b) fretting fatigue.

The above procedure, the interpolation of pad load

stress intensity factors in a simple and quick way without
distribution, and the calculation of stress intensity fac-
prior knowledge of detailed contact stress distribution.
tors, can be implemented by a computer. Fig. 4 shows
the flow chart of the calculation process. In process (a),
the contact stress distributions, P(yi/pw) and Q(yi/pw),
3. Results
are obtained by interpolation from the data in the data-
base arranged by the four parameters, a/pw, q, m and
3.1. Contact stress distribution derived from boundary
s/P0. In process (b), stress intensity factors are computed
element analysis
by substituting the parameters into the general
expressions [4]. Fig. 5 shows a screen capture of the user
The contact stress distributions were obtained for each
interface. The top of the screen shows a dialogue box
set of the four parameters a/pw, q, m and s/P0, by bound-
for input data W, pw, a, q, m P0 and s, and for output
ary element calculations. The influences of each para-
results of the stress intensity factors KI and KII. The bot-
meter on the distributions of the contact pressure and the
tom of the screen shows the distributions of contact
friction stress are shown in Figs. 6 and 7, respectively.
pressure and friction stress obtained.
In these figures, a set of a = 0.5 mm, q = 30°, m =
Finally, it ought to be emphasized that a unique fea-
0.7 and
ture of the program, which can be used for a wide range
of fretting fatigue conditions, is the calculation of the s ⫽ 0.5 MPa
 T. Kimura, K. Sato / International Journal of Fatigue 25 (2003) 633–640
Fig. 11. Variation of (s/P0)open with crack angle under several values of friction coefficient, m, and the ratio of crack length to plate width, a/pw.
is chosen as the representative of the parameters. The
changes in the distributions show different patterns
according to the influence of each parameter. Although
the distribution varies only near the crack edge for a
and q, the distribution varies considerably over the entire
contact area with m and s.
3.2. Evaluation of interpolation accuracy
In order to assess the accuracy of the contact stress
distributions obtained by the interpolation technique, the
values of stress intensity factors, KI and KII, which were
outside the conditions of parameters given in Table 1,
were obtained by the conventional boundary element
calculations and the results were compared with those
obtained directly by the interpolation technique. The
results obtained for P0 = 1 MPa and pw = 10 mm are
shown in Fig. 8(a) and (b) for mode I, and also shown
in Fig. 8(c) and (d) for mode II. The plots, obtained by
boundary element calculations, lie well on the lines,
obtained by the interpolation technique. This shows that
the interpolation is valid for the application.
3.3. Calculated results of stress intensity factors
The variations in stress intensity factors KI and KII
with crack length a and crack angle q, obtained from
this approach, are shown in Figs. 9 and 10, respectively.
The calculations were performed under the fretting
fatigue condition, P0 = 1 MPa, and plain fatigue con-
639
dition without fretting, P0 = 0 MPa, with pw = 10
mm, m = 0.7 and s = 1 MPa. Figs. 9(b) and Fig. 10(b)
show the results of fretting fatigue condition and Figs.
9(a) and Fig. 10(a) show the results of plain fatigue con-
dition. It can be seen that the values of KI decrease with
an increase in the crack angle, while those of KII increase
with an increase in the crack angle. The magnitude of
the change in KI and KII with the crack angle is more
pronounced under fretting fatigue conditions than under
plain fatigue conditions.
4. Discussion
As shown in Fig. 8(a) and (b), the value of KI becomes
negative around s = 0 MPa. As this method assumes
that the crack surfaces are stress-free, the calculation is
only valid if it results in an opened crack and gives posi-
tive value of KI. In order to evaluate the crack growth
rate by stress intensity factor range, ⌬K, therefore, the
ranges for both mode I and mode II have to be determ-
ined within the range of positive value of KI. The ratio
of fatigue stress to contact stress at which KI changes
from negative to positive is denoted (s/P0)open in this
article. Fig. 11 shows the variation in (s/P0)open with the
crack angle under several values of friction coefficient,
m, and the ratio of crack length to plate width, a/pw.
Contact pressure of fretting pad contributes to crack
closure and gives negative value of KI. In the range of
small loading ratios s/P0, the contact pressure has great
640 T. Kimura, K. Sato / International Journal of Fatigue 25 (2003) 633–640
effect and the crack is closed. As s/P0 increases, friction
stress and fatigue stress tend to have greater effect than
contact pressure and KI becomes positive. Because the
effect of contact pressure on crack closure is greater with
increasing crack angle, the value of (s/P0)open increases
with increasing crack angle. In the case of Fig. 11, con-
tact interface comprise stick zone and slip zone at low
friction, whereas only a stick zone exists at high friction.
Since the stick zone and the slip zone vary significantly
with the crack angle at low friction, contact stress distri-
bution varies markedly with the crack angle. Therefore,
the curves of (s/P0)open change markedly with the crack
angle at small friction coefficient.
Even though the present technique can give the wide
range of variation in stress intensity factors for a straight
opened crack, further studies will be required in order
to take into account the cases of a curved crack or a
closed crack with friction on the crack surfaces.
5. Conclusions
The database of contact stress distribution has been
established through analyzing the contact pressure and
friction stress of contact interface by using boundary
element method. The computer program to carry out the
interpolation of pad load distribution and the calculation
of the stress intensity factors has been developed. The
calculation method of stress intensity factors is based on
Green’s functions method and the principle of superpo-
sition. By inputting the parameters such as magnitude of
the contact stress and fatigue stress, crack length, crack
angle, pad width, plate width and friction coefficient,
contact stress distribution and stress intensity factors can
be obtained automatically. This technique is applicable
to the study of fretting fatigue crack propagation mech-
anisms.
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