The Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication of Heavily Loaded Point Contacts

It is shown that the film thickness in heavily loaded point contacts can be accurately calculated by comparing the inlet and exit zones of the contact with those of an equivalent line contact. The results become increasingly accurate as the extent of the inlet and exit regions is reduced and in the limit yields an exact solution. Even for moderately loaded contacts in which the inlet zone occupies a substantial part of the contact width the results are in close agreement with existing numerical solutions.