Cross-Scale Mechanical Contact Analysis from Asperities to Rough Surfaces: A Critical Review

Engineering equipment is an important material basis for supporting national defense security and promoting the development of the national economy. Large and complex mechanical equipment has a complex structural composition and numerous components, with a large number of connection structures such as bolts and flanges inside. Affected by long-term loading conditions, phenomena such as contact stiffness degradation will occur at the joint interface between components, thereby influencing the dynamic characteristics of the entire system and seriously affecting the reliability and performance of the equipment. By integrating microscopic contact mechanisms with cross-scale modelling approaches, the proposed contact framework can study the contact behavior of the joint interface more comprehensively. This paper summarizes the research status of the asperity contact model under two modeling methods, summarizes the research status of the statistical summation contact model from the assumptions of different asperity height distributions, outlines the current situation of the engineering application of the joint interface contact model, and looks forward to the research directions of the cross-scale model of connection structures in the future.