Recent Advancements in the Tribological Modelling of Rough Interfaces

This paper analyses some effective strategies proposed in the last few years to tackle contact mechanics problems involving rough interfaces. In particular, we present Boundary Element Methods capable of solving the contact with great accuracy and, at the same time, with a marked computational efficiency. Particular attention is paid to non-linearly elastic constitutive relations and, specifically, to a linearly viscoelastic rheology. Possible implications deal with all the tribological mechanical systems, where contact interactions are present, including, e.g., seals, bearings and dampers.