Surface Roughness Effects in an EHL Line Contact

Abstract

In this paper the influence of surface roughness on the pressure profile and film thickness in a steady state EHL line contact is investigated using input from an actually measured roughness profile in the calculations. Pressure profiles and film shapes for different load conditions are shown. The presented results strongly indicate that in the steady state situation considered here a significant deformation of the roughness profile occurs. As a result the often used λ parameter being the ratio of film thickness and standard deviation of the roughness (h/σ) with σ based on the undeformed roughness profile may give misleading information as far as the effect of the roughness on pressure and film shape is concerned.