A pitting model for rolling contact fatigue

The interaction of a Hertzian contact, including friction, with an angled surfacebreakingcrack is studied with a view toward qualitatively explaining certain aspectsof rolling contact fatigue. Cyclic loading and unloading of the surface crack, whichis assumed to be embedded in a rolling wheel, is simulated by assuming that stresseshaving a Hertzian distribution travel across the half space such that one passage isequivalent to one cycle of rolling. By increasing the crack's length and calculatingthe stress intensity factor, an estimate of the fatigue life can be determined.