Novel numerical method for parameterising fretting contacts

Fretting regime transition is traditionally achieved by qualitative assessment of the fretting loops (tangential force, Q vs tangential displacement δ) and material response. Other studies used parameters in which thresholds are theoretically determined to exceed friction at the contact for regime transition identification. This study successfully developed a flexible loop analysis method based on simple vector principles that is able to quantify and characterise its constituent parts. In terms of fretting contact analysis the loop analysis method provided a complementary method of regime transition identification to those based on theoretically overcoming friction at the contact, with strong agreement between the two. This novel method provides an efficient way to correlate regime transition with other data sets, with additional insights into the mechanical response of the contact compared to other regime transition criteria. Possible applications of this method include enabling smart asset monitoring and in the development of engineering components that are subject to fretting. This is an extremely flexible technique that has applicability for other types of loop analysis.