Film Thickness in Elastohydrodynamically Lubricated Slender Elliptic Contacts: Part II – Experimental Validation and Minimum Film Thickness

Abstract

In the first paper of this series, a new formula for central film thickness of slender contacts has been proposed. In this paper, interferometry measurement of the film thickness in slender elliptic contacts is performed for comparison with film thickness distribution of EHL simulation. The new film thickness formula presented in part I of this paper series is successfully validated by comparison with the experimental data. State-of-the-art minimum film thickness formulas are compared with the experimental results and results obtained through a multilevel EHL solver. Significant deviation of the analytical minimum film thickness formulas regarding both numerical and experimental results is given. Therefore, an alternative approach for calculation of minimum film thickness via the film thickness ratio with central film thickness is proposed, which yields promising results for moderately slender elliptic EHL contacts.