Double contact analysis of multilayered elastic structures involving functionally graded materials

This paper analyzes the frictionless double contact problem of a two-layer laminate pressed against a homogeneous half-plane substrate by a rigid punch. The laminate is composed of a homogeneous elastic strip and a functionally graded layer, perfectly bonded along their interface. The mechanical properties of the graded layer are modeled by an exponentially varying shear modulus and constant Poisson’s ratio. Both the governing equations and the boundary conditions of the double contact problem are converted into a pair of singular integral equations by Fourier integral transforms, which are numerically integrated by Chebyshev–Gauss quadrature. The contact pressure and the contact size at both the advancing and the receding contact interface are eventually obtained by an iterative algorithm, developed from the method of steepest descent. Extensive parametric studies suggest that it is possible to control contact stress and contact size by introducing functionally graded materials into multilayered elastic structures.