• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.229-236
• /
• 2019

This study investigates the stress singularity that occurs at the contact edge of three bodies in a frictional complete contact. We use the asymptotic analysis method, wherein we constitute an eigenvalue problem and observe the eigenvalue behavior, which we use to obtain the order of the stress singularity. For the present geometry of three bodies in contact, a contact between a cracked indenter and half plane is considered. This is a typical geometry of the PCMI problem of a nuclear fuel rod. Thus, this paper, specifically presents the characteristics of the PCMI problem from the perspective of stress singularity. Consequently, it is noted that the behavior of the stress singularity varies with the difference in the crack angle, coefficient of friction, and material dissimilarity, as is observed in a frictional complete contact of two bodies. In addition, we find that the stress singularity changes essentially linearly with respect to the coefficient of friction, regardless of the variation in the crack angle and material dissimilarity. Concurrently, we find the order of singularity to be 0.5 at a certain coefficient of friction, irrespective of the crack angle, which we also observe in the crack problem of a homogeneous and isotropic body. The order of singularity can also exceed 0.5 in the frictional complete contact problem of three bodies. This implies that the propensity for failure when three bodies are in frictional complete contact can be even worse than that in case of a failure induced by a crack.