Research on stress through photoelastic experiment and finite element method considering sliding wear

Sliding contact on the contact interface of friction pairs is a common type of contact. The sliding wear caused by sliding contact has an obvious influence on the stress in the contact area. In this study, the photoelastic experiment and finite element method are adopted to study variation laws of stress in the contact area. The results show that the stress in the contact region is very concentrated, and the contact half-width gradually ascends with the increase of sliding wear. The stress intensity in the contact region and von Mises stress at the contact centre decrease with the increase of wear depth. In the case of a wear depth of less than 0.3 mm, the stress intensity and the contact stress decrease rapidly with the growth of wear depth. When the wear depth exceeds 0.3 mm, the influence of wear depth on the stress intensity and contact stress is small. The results of this research clarify the effect of sliding wear on the stress in the contact area, and provide a reference for studying the contact issues.