Submodeling in wear predictive finite element models with multipoint contacts

The application of the submodeling technique to finite element (FE) wear analyses has been recently proposed as an efficient solution to reduce the computational cost of the simulations and provide accurate numerical results. However, the method was validated only on single point contact cases. The present study proposes a generalization of the wear submodeling procedure that can be used to speed up FE wear simulations with multipoint contacts. The modified global–local procedure is applied and evaluated on a double contact pin on plate wear test using three-dimensional models developed in Ansys® mechanical APDL. Three different model geometries with different curvature radii at the contact regions were considered in order to replicate possible critical scenarios. Results suggest that an additional wear simulation step where the global model is used to simulate the first wear cycles is needed to correctly transfer the boundary conditions to the local models. The new proposed strategy demonstrates the possibility to extend the method to more general FE wear simulations by significantly reducing their computational cost.