Dynamic problem of a power-law graded half-plane and an associated carleman problem for two functions

Summary A steady state plane problem of an inhomogeneous half-plane subjected to a load running along the boundary at subsonic speed is analyzed. The Lame coefficients and the density of the half-plane are assumed to be power functions of depth. The model is different from the standard static model have been used in contact mechanics since the Sixties and originated from the 1964 Rostovtsev exact solution of the Flamant problem of a power-law graded half-plane. To solve the governing dynamic equations with variable coefficients written in terms of the displacements, we propose a method that, by means of the Fourier and Mellin transforms, maps the model problem into a Carleman boundary value problem for two meromorphic functions in a strip with two shifts or, equivalently, to a system of two difference equations of the second order with variable coefficients. By partial factorization the Carleman problem is recast as a system of four singular integral equations on a segment with a fixed singularity and highly oscillating coefficients. A numerical method for its solution is proposed and tested. Numerical results for the displacement and stress fields are presented and discussed.