Competition between 3rd body flows and local contact dynamics

When contact occurs between two bodies in relative motion, instability state – i.e. stick-slip or stick-slip-separation up so several kHz – often occur in the contact . Such phenomenon has been numerically highlighted and studied by Baillet and Massi using dynamic finite element modelling (FEM) with constant Coulomb’s friction coefficient. Nevertheless, such model doesn’t take account for the 3rd body flow inside the contact and its interactions with contact dynamics. Recently, Renouf has coupled finite element method with discrete element method (DEM) to compensate for this lack. The purpose of the present work is so to validate experimentally the numerical results obtained from both contact dynamics and 3rd body flows . An experimental set-up, called “PhotoTrib”, has so been developed to reproduce the birth conditions of both instability state and 3rd body particles.