title: Contact between representative rough surfaces.
abstract: A numerical analysis of mechanical frictionless contact between rough self-affine elastic manifolds was carried out. It is shown that the lower cutoff wave number in surface spectra is a key parameter controlling the representativity of the numerical model. Using this notion we demonstrate that for representative surfaces the evolution of the real contact area with load is universal and independent of the Hurst roughness exponent. By introducing a universal law containing three constants, we extend the study of this evolution beyond the limit of infinitesimal area fractions.
authors.affiliation: Centre des Matériaux, MINES ParisTech, CNRS UMR 7633, BP 87, 91003 Evry, France.
authors.forename: Vladislav A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Yastrebov
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Anciaux
authors.forename: Jean-François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Molinari
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D055119:Elastic Modulus; D017276:Friction; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D013499:Surface Properties