Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication (EHL) is commonly known as a mode of fluid-film lubrication in which the mechanism of hydrodynamic film formation is enhanced by surface elastic deformation and lubricant viscosity increase due to high pressure. It has been an active and challenging field of research since the 1950s. Significant breakthroughs achieved in the last 10–15 years are largely in the area of mixed EHL, in which surface asperity contact and hydrodynamic lubricant film coexist. Mixed EHL is of the utmost importance not only because most power-transmitting components operate in this regime, but also due to its theoretical universality that dry contact and full-film lubrication are in fact its special cases under extreme conditions. In principle, mixed EHL has included the basic physical elements for modeling contact, or hydrodynamic lubrication, or both together. The unified mixed lubrication models that have recently been developed are now capable of simulating the entire transition of interfacial status from full-film and mixed lubrication down to dry contact with an integrated mathematic formulation and numerical approach. This has indeed bridged the two branches of engineering science, contact mechanics, and hydrodynamic lubrication theory, which have been traditionally separate since the 1880s mainly due to the lack of powerful analytical and numerical tools. The recent advancement in mixed EHL begins to bring contact and lubrication together, and thus an evolving concept of “Interfacial Mechanics” can be proposed in order to describe interfacial phenomena more precisely and collaborate with research in other related fields, such as interfacial physics and chemistry, more closely. This review paper briefly presents snapshots of the history of EHL research, and also expresses the authors’ opinions about its further development as a gateway to interfacial mechanics.
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October 2011
Research Papers
Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication: A Gateway to Interfacial Mechanics—Review and Prospect
Dong Zhu,
Dong Zhu
State Key Laboratory of Mechanical Transmission,
e-mail: dongzhu@mail.com
Chongqing University
, Chongqing, China
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Q. Jane Wang
Q. Jane Wang
Search for other works by this author on:
Dong Zhu
State Key Laboratory of Mechanical Transmission,
Chongqing University
, Chongqing, China
e-mail: dongzhu@mail.com
Q. Jane Wang
J. Tribol. Oct 2011, 133(4): 041001 (14 pages)
Published Online: August 9, 2011
Article history
Received:
February 21, 2011
Revised:
June 9, 2011
Online:
August 9, 2011
Published:
August 9, 2011
Citation
Zhu, D., and Jane Wang, Q. (August 9, 2011). "Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication: A Gateway to Interfacial Mechanics—Review and Prospect." ASME. J. Tribol. October 2011; 133(4): 041001. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4004457
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