Modeling the surface topography dependence of friction, adhesion, and contact compliance

The small-scale topography of surfaces critically affects the contact area of solids and thus the forces acting between them. Although this has long been known, only recent advances made it possible to reliably model interfacial forces and related quantities for surfaces with multiscale roughness. This article sketches both recent and traditional approaches to their mechanics, while addressing the relevance of nonlinearity and nonlocality arising in soft- and hard-matter contacts. Graphical abstract