The Effect of Dent Size on the Pressure Distribution and Failure Location in Dry Point Frictionless Rolling Contacts

Finite element simulation is performed for rolling contact over four different size spherical dents. Two rolling contacts are simulated using a portion of a sphere as a counter-face to the dented half-space. The effect of dent size on the pressure distribution and fatigue failure location for dry point contact is studied. The material model used was adjusted to match both the stress amplitude versus strain range curve and ratchetting experimental data for 52100 bearing steel.