A nonlinear contact pressure distribution model for wear calculation of planar revolute joint with clearance

As various errors result from manufacture and assembly processes or wear effect, clearance joint widely exists in mechanical system as a base component. The coupling analysis of tribology and dynamics of clearance joint is important to the reliability of mechanical system. A nonlinear contact pressure distribution mode (NLCP) is proposed to combine dynamics analysis with wear calculation together in this paper. The discrete thought of Winkler model is adopted to deal with contact problem with a high conformal rate. The contact relationship in a local microcontact area can be regarded as the contact between cylinder and plane. And the local contact pressure is acquired based on Hertz contact theory. The NLCP model has not only described the nonlinear relationship between contact pressure and penetration depth, but also avoided the complexity in contact pressure computation. The performance of NLCP model is demonstrated in comparison with asymmetric Winkler model, revealing that NLCP model has enhanced the calculation accuracy with a good efficiency. A comprehensive experimental study on the wear calculation of a slider–crank mechanism with clearance joint is presented and discussed to provide an experimental verification for NLCP model. The paper’s work has solved the contact problem with a high conformal rate and has described the nonlinear relationship between contact pressure and penetration depth. It has great value to the wear analysis of clearance joint.