Hertz Contact Stress Calculations

HertzWin is a free Hertzian contact stress calculator. It can be used to calculate mechanical point and line contact dimensions and material stresses. The application performs all calculations automatically. A clear window allows you to enter material properties, dimensions and loads. The same window then immediately displays the results. Download HertzWin freeware here (after registration). Further down on this page, you can watch a short instructional video that shows you how to use it. Read this introduction to the work and importance of Heinrich Hertz.

An important feature of HertzWin is that it calculates the exact results by numerically solving the elliptic integrals.

Main window of HertzWin, the free software tool to calculate Hertzian contacts

 

Features of the Hertzian Stress Calculator HertzWin

  • point and line contact stress calculations;
  • calculation of:
    • contact width;
    • Hertz contact stress;
    • shear stress;
    • von Mises;
    • deformation;
    • contact stiffness;
    • required material strength;
  • Imperial + SI units;
  • the influence of the surface roughness;
  • lifetime calculations;
  • exact elliptical integral calculations using numerical integration;
  • comprehensive list of material properties;
  • extensive help files;
  • Windows Clipboard copy function;
  • Also runs on Linux using Wine.
  • Graphs of stresses and displacements;
  • Contour plots of sub-surface stresses;
  • Maximum shear stress and Von Mises stress per contacting body;
  • Influence of a tangential load;
  • Orthogonal shear stress calculation for rolling contact fatigue (RCF);
  • Elastic energy calculation;
  • Overview of the used equations in HertzWin (traceability) in the help function.

More information about the new functionality can be found in the program’s corresponding help function. And the extensive article with background information and theory used in HertzWin.

The latest release of HertzWin is version 3.5.0 (April 2023). See the release notes. Download HertzWin here.
See also the system requirements here.

Screenshot of Graph and Contour Plot of Subsurface Stresses

A screenshot of the window with plots of stresses and deformations and a contour plot of subsurface stresses is shown below.

Graph Window of Contact Stress Calculator

Contour plot of a line contact with tangential force

Exact Results due to Numerical Integration of Elliptic Integrals

By numerically solving the elliptic integrals of Hertz formulas, HertzWin is very accurate. Several users have tested HertzWin and compared it with their own calculations. All of these tests have found no errors in the results. Read more about the accuracy of HertzWin in the Frequently Asked Questions about HertzWin.

Introduction video in the use of HertzWin

The video below is a quick demonstration of HertzWin‘s ease of use.

 

Many Users and used in Scientific Publications

The HertzWin software has many users from all kinds of industries. From offshore to mechanical watch industry, and from aerospace to door locks. HertzWin is appears in several scientific publications. Here are a few:

Download and use the Hertzian Stress Calculator for Free

You can download and use HertzWin for free after registering. After registering, you will receive an email with the download links. If you stay registered, then you will be notified when an update or new software is available. Expect 2 or 3 emails per year. Of course you can unsubscribe at any time. Your email (data) will not be used for anything else. There are already more than 3100 users of HertzWin (March 2022). See the system requirements here.

Please select the software programs you would like to receive news about. You will receive an email with a download link for the software..

Important: sometimes the email with the download link is rejected by your mail server. To ensure that the email arrives in your inbox, add info(at)vinksda.nl to your mail address book. Especially companies sometimes filter emails as spam.

You can always edit your preferences and personal information or remove all personal information by clicking on the link in the email. See the Privacy Policy.


Donation

Would you like to help with a small donation? I would really appreciate it! This will allow me to spend even more time developing the free software and providing support. Thank you in advance! You can donate via the form below (via Mollie).

Amount





 

What users say about HertzWin

  • “I just discovered your program a few days ago and absolutely love it!”. Damjan, Croatia
  • “I would like to thank you for your program. It is really easy to use it and it has really nice visualization”. Frantisek, Czech Republic
  • “This software package provides a great service to mechanical engineers and other design professionals around the world. Thank you. I have checked my own calculations against HertzWin, and found them to be in very close agreement. The refinements added to release 2.4 will make it even more useful”. Gordon, Canada
  • “Thanks for this useful software”. Jérôme, France
  • “I use HertzWin to calculate contact stiffness. My compliments for the user-friendliness and the visual feedback”. Peter, The Netherlands
  • “I have downloaded your HertzWin program and have confirmed that your Hertz Contact Stress calculation matches what I have been using. I believe that your program will be helpful in quickly checking my hand calculations”. Michael, USA (Pennsylvania)
  • “Thanks for the wonderful HertzWin software”. Anh, USA (California)
  • “Useful program, thank you very much. I will forward it to my colleagues”. Rene, The Netherlands
  • “Congratulations for the software. It is very Useful!!” José, Brasil
  • “I use HertzWin often to make a quick estimation of the Hertzian stresses and contact stiffness”. Martijn, The Netherlands
  • “Thanks for the update release information and beautiful & informative product”. Sriramachandra, India
  • “I am a current user of your HertzWin software and appreciate it a lot”. Philippe, Canada
  • “HertzWin does exactly what it should do. I gathered a lot of literature and I come to the conclusion that the results of the program matches exactly with the literature”. Jan, The Netherlands
  • “Thank you Jaap, the calculator is very useful!”. George, USA
  • “First of all thank you for putting HertzWin and FlexHinge on-line, very useful!!”. Lennino, Nederland
  • “I am very satisfied with your program, I appreciate it a lot”. Mile, Nederland

Comments are Appreciated

I am interested in hearing about your experience with HertzWin. Please leave a comment below or send me an email.

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

sixty two − fifty seven =