A multiscale soft-contact modelling method for rough surfaces in contact with coupled slipping/sliding and rolling

This paper presents a multiscale soft-contact modelling (SCM) method for characterising the rough surfaces in contact with coupled slipping/sliding and rolling. The microscale flattening of the random surface asperities subjected to a plastically deformed substrate was accommodated by a statistical analysis with a dynamic explicit finite element analysis (FEA). A soft-contact algorithm was developed to effectively treat the cross-scale deformation of the microscopic asperities and that of the macroscopic body. An efficient modularised strategy including an input module and a hybrid SCM-FEA module was established to analyse the interaction at the interface of the two contacting bodies associated with coupled slipping/sliding and rolling. The modelling method was validated by a typical metal forming process, cold rolling of metal strips.