AmesWeb

Formulas for Contact Stress Calculations

The formulas and parameters used in the Hertzian Contact Stress Calculator are summarized below. Depending on the input parameters and the selected contact type (spherical or cylindrical), the calculator picks the appropriate equations from these lists to compute Hertzian contact stresses.

Hertzian Contact Stress Formulas

Mathematical formulas used for spherical and cylindrical Hertzian contact.
Contact stress formulas
Calculation for spherical contact
Contact radius (a)
$$a=\sqrt [ 3 ]{ \frac { 3F }{ 8 } \frac { (1-{ \nu }_{ 1 }^{ 2 })/{ E }_{ 1 }+(1-{ \nu }_{ 2 }^{ 2 })/{ E }_{ 2 } }{ 1/{ d }_{ 1 }+1/{ d }_{ 2 } } } $$
Maximum pressure (pmax)
$${ p }_{ max }=\frac { 3F }{ 2\pi { a }^{ 2 } } $$
Principal stress (σx)
$${ \sigma }_{ x }=-{ p }_{ max }\left[ (1-\left| \frac { z }{ a } \right| \tan ^{ -1 }{ \frac { 1 }{ \left| z/a \right| } } )(1+\upsilon )-\frac { 1 }{ 2(1+\frac { { z }^{ 2 } }{ { a }^{ 2 } } ) } \right]$$
Principal stress (σy)
$$ { \sigma }_{ y }=-{ p }_{ max }\left[ (1-\left| \frac { z }{ a } \right| \tan ^{ -1 }{ \frac { 1 }{ \left| z/a \right| } } )(1+\upsilon )-\frac { 1 }{ 2(1+\frac { { z }^{ 2 } }{ { a }^{ 2 } } ) } \right] $$
Principal stress (σz)
$${ \sigma }_{ z }=\frac { -{ p }_{ max } }{ 1+\frac { { z }^{ 2 } }{ { a }^{ 2 } } } $$
Maximum shear stress (τmax)
$${ \tau }_{ max }=\frac { { \sigma }_{ x }-{ \sigma }_{ z } }{ 2 } =\frac { { \sigma }_{ y }-{ \sigma }_{ z } }{ 2 } $$
Calculation for cylindrical contact
Contact half-width (b)
$$b=\sqrt { \frac { 2F }{ \pi l } \frac { (1-{ \nu }_{ 1 }^{ 2 })/{ E }_{ 1 }+(1-{ \nu }_{ 2 }^{ 2 })/{ E }_{ 2 } }{ 1/{ d }_{ 1 }+1/{ d }_{ 2 } } } $$
Maximum pressure (pmax)
$${ p }_{ max }=\frac { 2F }{ \pi bl } $$
Principal stress (σx)
$${ \sigma }_{ x }=-2\nu { p }_{ max }\left[ \sqrt { (1+\frac { { z }^{ 2 } }{ { b }^{ 2 } } ) } -\left| \frac { z }{ b } \right| \right] $$
Principal stress (σy)
$${ \sigma }_{ y }=-{ p }_{ max }\left[ \frac { 1+2\frac { { z }^{ 2 } }{ { b }^{ 2 } } }{ \sqrt { (1+\frac { { z }^{ 2 } }{ { b }^{ 2 } } ) } } -2\left| \frac { z }{ b } \right| \right] $$
Principal stress (σz)
$${ \sigma }_{ z }=\frac { -{ p }_{ max } }{ \sqrt { (1+\frac { { z }^{ 2 } }{ { b }^{ 2 } } ) } } $$
Shear stress (τxz)
$${ \tau }_{ xz }=\frac { { \sigma }_{ x }-{ \sigma }_{ z } }{ 2 } $$
Shear stress (τyz)
$${ \tau }_{ yz }=\frac { { \sigma }_{ y }-{ \sigma }_{ z } }{ 2 } $$

Note: For a plane surface, use d = ∞. For an internal surface, the diameter is expressed as a negative quantity.

List of Parameters

Symbols and definitions used in the Hertzian contact formulas.
Symbol Parameter
F Applied force
ν1 Object-1 Poisson’s ratio
E1 Object-1 elastic modulus
ν2 Object-2 Poisson’s ratio
E2 Object-2 elastic modulus
d1 Object-1 diameter
d2 Object-2 diameter
z Depth below the surface
l Contact length of cylinders

Supplements

Related calculator using the above contact stress formulas.
Link Usage
Hertzian contact calculator Calculates contact parameters such as contact pressure, shear and von Mises stresses for spherical and cylindrical contact cases.

Reference