Abstract: The papers published before on the analysis of the stress field due to cylindrical contact were all on the assumption that the material was pure elastic or perfectly elastic-plastic. But the assumption is too approximate because the material will work-harden after the yielding. The present study with consideration of work-hardening discussed the effects of overlaying residual stresses on the stress hold due to cylindrical contact by means of numerical calculation and gave the variation of the plastic zone in subsurface with stresses cycles. The results of experiment proved that the overlaying residual stresses would decrease the service life of workpiece under contact fatigue condition.

Key words: 残余应力, 接触, 应力场