A thermomechanical analysis of a semi-infinite elastic solid in contact with a rigid adiabatic sphere subjected to oscillatory sliding motion is conducted to investigate the effects of transient mechanical and thermomechanical loads on the temperature variation in the solid. The interdependent mechanical and thermal analyses are coupled by an iteration scheme using the transfer matrix method combined with the finite element technique. The significance of interaction among heat generation, temperature rise and contact conditions are interpreted in light of numerical results. It is shown that the constraint of the thermal expansion in the indentation direction between the contacting bodies plays a significant role in the increase of contact pressure and heat generation, which in turn affect the temperature rise and thermal expansion. Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.