Stochastic reliability in contact problems for composites with spherical particles

The application of the stochastic perturbation technique in the classical Hertz contact problem of a composite with spherical particle is presented in the paper. The perturbation approach is used in conjunction with the Weibull-Second Order Third Moment (W-SOTM) reliability model in numerical analysis of the composite. All computational experiments are carried out using symbolic computation package MAPLE, that makes it possible to visualize the deterministic sensitivity gradients as well as to show probabilistic moments of contact stresses. The entire methodology can be applied to analytical solutions of contact problems with a more complicated contact surface geometry and, on the other hand, to computational implementation in the Finite or Boundary Element Method programs for simulations of some contact phenomena.