On the sliding instabilities at rough surfaces

In this paper, the onset of sliding between two elastic half-spaces in contact, subjected to a tangential force, is studied within the framework of critical phenomena. First, it is shown that the contact domain between two rough surfaces is a lacunar set and that the distribution of contact stresses is multifractal. By applying an increasing tangential force, under constant normal load, the so-called regime of partial-slip comes into play. However, the continuous and smooth transition to full sliding, predicted by the classical Cattaneo-Mindlin theory, is not confirmed by the experiments, which show marked frictional instabilities. A numerical multi-scale procedure is proposed, taking into account the redistribution of stress, consequent to partial-slip, among the contact areas at all scales. It is shown that the lacunarity of the contact domain delays the onset of instability, when compared to compact Euclidean domains. Independently of the assumptions made for the frictional behaviour at the scale of the asperities (Coulomb friction for meso-scale asperities, adhesion for micro-scales), renormalization permits the critical value of the tangential force which provides the instability to be found. Moreover, the multifractal analysis of the domains where the shear resistance is activated captures the size-scale effects on the friction coefficient, currently evidenced by the experiments.