Deformation and pressure in an elastohydrodynamic contact

The film shape, pressure and temperature profiles have been measured in a disk machine under conditions of elastohydrodynamic lubrication. They were obtained with a new design of transducer which enables the various measurements to be accurately inter-related. In the case of the film shape and pressure measurements the corresponding theoretical solutions have been calculated and detailed comparison made. It has been shown that the sharp peaks of pressure near the outlet which are predicted in the theory are in practice considerably attenuated but do occur in the correct positions. The associated dip in film thickness is also much reduced. Johnson’s recent postulate that the position of the pressure spike should be a function of a single parameter has been examined and found to hold for this new range of experimental data.