The Effect of a Fluid in the Contact Gap on the Stress State of Conjugate Bodies

The contact interaction of two elastic isotropic half-spaces is analyzed. One of the half-spaces has a smooth shallow depression, resulting in an imperfect contact of the surfaces. The contact gap is assumed filled with a real gas. Gas–liquid transition due to variation in the external load and temperature is considered. The plane problem formulated is solved by the method of contact-gap functions. The effect of the filler and its phase transition on the width and depth of the gap and the contact pressure is studied