Because most fatigue cracks in wheel and rail take place by rolling contact of wheel and rail in railroad industry, it is critical to understand the rolling contact phenomena, especially for the three-dimensional situation. This paper presents an approach to steady-state rolling contact problem of three-dimensional contact bodies, with or without tangential force, based on the finite element method. The steady-state conditions are controlled by the applied relative slip and tangential force. The three-dimensional distribution of tangential traction and contact stresses on the contact surface are investigated. Results show that the distribution of tangential traction and contact stresses on the contact surface varies rapidly as a result of the variation of stick-slip region. The tangential traction is very close in form to Carter’s distribution.
