The cohesive zone crack analogue for fretting fatigue based on mild wear

•The modified crack analogue incorporates a novel cohesive zone at the contact edges of the original crack analogue model.•The cohesive zone model introduces a new approach regarding the intimate synergy between friction and mild wear through plastic ratcheting of the surface asperities.•The presented cohesive zone focuses on macroscopic fretting problems through the shear plasticity of the surface asperities (as mild wear). Similar cohesive zone models can be staged using dislocation plasticity, as well as atomistic and gradient elasticity models.