Simplified stiffness model for spherical rough contacts

Obtaining a surface with negligible roughness is very expensive, time consuming and unnecessary. The influence of surface roughness on the contact stiffness is of great importance. The extra cost associated with unnecessary surface finish can be limited by eliminating the unnecessary machining operations beyond the required surface finish. In this article, a simplified solution is presented to calculate the stiffness of rough contact between the workpiece and spherical locator; also, the effect of surface roughness on the stiffness and deformation of rough spherical contact is studied for different applied loads to find an ‘economic roughness’ under machining forces