The 13th International Conference on Fracture Fatigue and Wear (FFW 2025)

Abstract: Fretting fatigue occurs in many engineering systems where load must be transferred between adjacent components. The consequences for system performance, durability and safety can be very significant. In most cases the cause of the cyclic loading is vibrations in the system. These either result from external loads or are generated in the system itself (e.g. due to out of balance loading or reciprocating mass). Frequently the vibration problem is treated entirely separately from that of fretting at the interface. However this is a simplification which can lead to misleading results. Interface friction is an important source of damping in the system and will have a significant effect on the levels of vibration experienced. Hence, in order to fully characterise the system, the vibration and fretting problems need to be considered in a holistic framework. The input to any model should be the loading experienced by the system and the output is a durability assessment. Interface contact conditions should be treated as internal variables. If the system is treated in this way, there is a possibility to optimise fretting fatigue life by changing interface geometry or friction. The paper will detail the steps required to implement a holistic model and present some sample results for a simple partial slip contact.

Biography: Professor David Nowell is Professor of Machine Dynamics at Imperial College London. He has been involved in research in solid mechanics and tribology for over 35 years and he has developed a particular interest in fretting fatigue. His recent research has focused on the role of frictional interfaces in providing damping in complex engineering systems. Professor Nowell is a Fellow and a Trustee of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (I.Mech.E.). He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Materials Minerals and Mining (IoM³).