A new method for obtaining the stress field in plane contacts

This paper presents two valuable procedures used to calculate the stress field in plane contacts between a punch and a half-plane in partial slip regime. These procedures greatly simplify both the Muskhelishvili potential and the calculation of direct stresses produced on the contact surface, and, therefore, the stress field in the half-plane is simplified as well. The results are applicable when the contacting bodies have isotropic elastic behaviour and identical mechanical properties. It is further assumed that both bodies behave as a semi-infinite medium. To validate the procedures obtained here, they are applied to two cases for which analytical solutions already exist.