Influence of Lubricant Inlet Film Thickness on Elastohydrodynamically Lubricated Contact Starvation

Abstract

The paper deals with an experimental study of an elastohydrodynamic contact under insufficient lubricant supply. Theoretical studies published in this research area focus mainly on the development of theoretical models, and there is a lack of experimental validation of the theoretical models. This paper presents original experimental results and aims to describe the starvation severity level as a function of the inlet film thickness and contact geometry. Experimental data are compared with an analytical model for point contacts published by Chevalier. The study was also extended to elliptical contacts to achieve a comparison with the different parameters of the side-flow resistance used by Damiens. Both models agree well with the experiments.