A survey of applications of

ehl on machine elements

K. Holmberg*

Concentrated contacts in motion are found in most mechanical machines.

The elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication (ehl) theory deals with the lubrication
of moving concentrated contacts. The first important successful application
of ehl was to rolling contact bearings. The theory can today be used by
designers for optimizing bearing design and predicting bearing life, power
loss, temperature and dynamic behaviour. The application of ehl to gearing
is more complicated. The simplified film thickness calculation methods for
gears offer a practical way of making a rough estimation of the risk of
failure. Methods for calculating the film thickness in the difficult transient
contact conditions and along the gear contact have recently been developed.
The application of ehl to the transient conditions in a cam and tappet con-
tact is promising but needs more work. To achieve better methods for the
design of lubricated concentrated contacts, a better understanding of micro-
geometry and thermal and chemical effects in the contact is required

Keywords: rolling bearings, gear drives, tappets, cams, elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication

The basis of ehl theory was worked out by Grubin 1 in 1949
and Dowson and Higginson 2 in 1959, who treated the line
contact type of concentrated contacts. Hamrock and Dowson
extended the theory to cover point contacts with elliptical
conjunction in a series of papers published in 1976-77,
which have been summarized 3 . Useful reviews of the
development of ehl theory are found in papers by Dowson4,s ,
Cheng6 and Holmberg 7.
In this survey, the application of ehl to rolling element
bearings, gears and cam and tappet mechanisms is treated.
Rolling element bearings
The first important successful application of ehl theory to
machine elements was to roller bearings. The theory provides
more effective methods for optimizing bearing design, pre-
dicting bearing life, power loss, temperature and dynamic
behaviour. This knowledge is used, eg in standardized
formulae for predicting bearing life of rolling element
bearings.
Film thickness calculations
The minimum film thickness in a line contact can be
calculated by the conventional isothermal ehl formula,
which takes the following form when the corrections
suggested by Dowson4 are included
H m i n = 2.65 G's4 U'7 W-0"13 (1)
where
Hmi n = hmin/R '
G = a E' (materials parameter)
U = % u'/E' R ' (speed parameter)
W = w/E' R ' 1 (load parameter)
*Metals Laboratory, Technical Research Centre of Finland,
SF-02150 Espoo 15, Finland
1/E'=0.5 [(1-G~)/Ex + (1-G==)/E2]
1/R'= 1/Rl + l / R :
u ' = 0 . 5 (ul + u s )
and hmin is the minimum film thickness, R the radius of the
cylinder, E Young's modulus of elasticity, a the pressure
exponent of viscosity, % the viscosity at ambient pressure,
u the velocity, w the load, 1 the length of the cylinder and
o Poisson's ratio.
The thickness of the lubricant film in relation to the rough-
ness of the lubricated surfaces is called the specific film
thickness X.
= hmin where R'a = [Ral 2 + Ra 22 ] 1/2 (2)
R'a '
and where Ra is the average roughness.
A physical picture of the influence of the specific film
thickness in elasto-hydrodynamic contacts is provided by
experimental data (Fig 1) showing the fraction of time
that metal to metal contact occurs through the lubricant
film as a function of the specific film thickness 8. The data
were obtained by measuring the electrical resistance of the
contact between steel balls.
The ehl film thickness formula has been used and
developed for rolling element bearings by several investi-
gators 9~14 . The film thickness of grease lubricated bearings
has been studied by Wilson 1s.
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers 16 has
investigated a rationalized design method for rolling element
bearings. It uses the following simplified formula for
calculating the specific film thickness
X = m(r/o a N ) : ~]-0.09 (3)
where m is a factor which takes into account the type and
size of bearing as shown in Fig 2 and Table 1, ~7o is the

TRIBOLOGY international June 1982 0301-679X/82/030123-09 $03.00 1982 Butterworth & Co (Publishers) Ltd 123
Holmberg -- Survey o f applications o f o h / o n machine elements

viscosity at ambient pressure, c~ is the pressure exponent of Table 1 Chart for selecting m factor
viscosity, N is the rotational speed and W the static equivalent
load. m factor Bearing type and series
This formula is easy to use and gives X with sufficient curve
accuracy for most practical applications. It should be Ball Roller Spherical
pointed out that in the formula static loads are assumed.
The influence of dynamic loads is discussed later. A Extra heavy Heavy 04,23
B Heavy Medium heavy 03,13,22,32
A similar simplified method for calculating the film thick- C Medium Medium 02,12,31
ness in rolling element bearings has been published 17,~8. D Light Light 30
Here the influence of load, which is not a very dominant E Extra light Extra light 40
factor, is neglected. F Extremely light Extremely light 39

,.o Re
' Ill I i t i I ~ I i
5.5-
0.9- A o I ~ 4 4 0 N (1001bf) Load I B
2 2 0 N ( 5 O I b f ) Lood ]
o 0.8-
"E &
8 0 o
-~ 0.7- C
5 2 2.5
0.6- A
g
"$ 0
E 2.0-
0.5-- O
"8
,a A 0 3
E 0.4-- . 1.5
O
"6 0 3 -- Z~
c O
o
.2 1.0
0.2 -- A o e~
L. ..J
m A o
O
o.i - AAo 0.5
AO

0 I 2 3 4 0 I , I l J i I,
Specific film thickness 0.6 0.8 I 2 4 6 8 IO
Fig I Effect of specific film thickness on the penetration of Specific film thickness~k
lubricant film by surface asperities (from Reference 8) Fig 3 Lubrication-life correction factor F as a function o f
specific film thickness X (from Reference 16)
6r 1A
Bearing life prediction
D During the last decades, much work has been done on
E studying the rolling contact fatigue mechanism. The aim
F
has been to improve bearing life prediction methods, which
are still considerably inaccurate, ehl theory provided very
l0 useful knowledge about the contact mechanism, which led
8 to an important step forward.
6 The influence of the specific film thickness, X, on the bear-
ing life was first demonstrated by Tallian 19 as shown by
4
.} curve A in Fig 3. He showed that the bearing life is many
o
times longer in the ehl region (X > 3) than in the boundary
2 lubrication region (X < 1). Thus it became possible to
design bearings to run in the region where they would have
longer lives and where failure probability is lower.
iOs
8
The experimental fatigue life tests of cylindrical roller bear-
6
ings operating under various lambda values reported by
Skurka 2 indicate that the relationship between lambda and
4 the bearing life would be expressed by curve B in Fig 3.
Curve C represents a compromise between the two men-
2x104r i i I nil I I III tioned works and is the curve that is recommended, based
10 20 40 100 200 400 I000 on data presently available.
Beoring bore, mm The scatter in the test results of bearing lives at low lambda
Fig 2 m-factor as a function of bearing bore (from values is bigger than at high values of lambda. This is due to
R eference 16) the complexity of the contact mechanism in the region of

124 T R I BO LOGY international June 1982

 Holmberg - Survey o f applications o f ehl on machine elements

boundary lubrication. Here the microgeometry, starvation I

I ,,1 l i , J' ;''l I l I

effects and lubricant-material chemistry become important Elastohydrodynamic theoies:

because of the continuous asperity contacts. Liu et a121 1.0 - Fully flooded n ~ A r c h a r d and Cowking
-----Cheng
determined that, at lambda values below 0.5, the variation Hamrock and Dawson
in lambda explains only a minor portion of the scatter in Starved H am:OnCk and . ~
fatigue life.
In a recent paper, Tallian ~2 presents a method for the o Experiments s ~ "
calculation of rolling contact fatigue life which considers
material, lubrication and surface topography effects. He
also states that bearing life is as long as can be achieved for
given material factors, when X ~ 3. However, this statement c
cannot be relied upon until more experimental evidence is 0.1
published, especially because recently published new data
by Nahm and Bamberger23 are in disagreement with this E
statement. Their results show that life continues to increase h

with increasing lambda.

In an analysis of literature bearing-fatigue life results,
Rowe 24 concludes that the influence of film thickness on
bearing life increases with increasing surface roughness. He
found that at about 0.20/am composite roughness, life
increases with the square root of the film thickness while 0.01 i , I,I I I I I I ll~l I I I
at about 0.46/am, life increases with the film thickness 0,5 I 5 I0 50
squared. A comprehensive review of ehl effects in rolling Velocity, UI+I,I 2 , m / s
contact fatigue has been published by Tallian 2s and the
Fig 5 Comparison of theoretical and measured film thick-
application to rolling element bearings has been discussed
nesses in high speed conditions (from Reference 31)
by Anderson 26 .

Thermal effects
Starvation effects
At high rolling speeds, the film thickness predicted by
Starvation is most likely to occur in sparsely lubricated
isothermal ehl theory is too high because the inlet heating
bearings such as instrument bearings and in high speed
effect is ignored. Cheng j2 and Blok 27 have shown that this
bearings. Hamrock and Dawson 3e have analysed the film
effect can be taken into account by using a correction
thickness reduction in starved ehl conditions. Their theory
factor. Blok gives an equation for the correction factor,
is in good agreement with the experimental high speed
which is the relation between the actual film thickness and
point contact results from Dalmaz31 (Fig 5). A weak point
that predicted by the isothermal theory. The correction
factor can easily be determined from the diagram in Fig 4 is, however, that Dalmaz compares his results with iso-
developed by Jackson 28 . thermal ehl theories where the inlet heating effect is not
taken into account. Thus it is not clear if the reduction in
In an optical study of a cylindrical roller bearing, film thickness is caused by starvation or inlet heating.
Pemberton and Cameron 29 confirm that the isothermal
The results of Dawson, Saman and Toyoda 32 are more
theory gives accurate predictions of film thickness at low
useful for practical applications. In their theoreticaiand
speeds but that the viscous heating in the inlet zone must
experimental study of starved ehl contacts, they suggest the
be taken into account at higher speeds. Severe starvation
use of a zero reverse flow boundary condition. They found,
could only be induced by limiting the initial supply of
for line contacts, that the film thickness is reduced to about
lubricant.
seventy percent of the fully flooded value predicted by
conventional ehl theory for pure rolling.

Dynamic behaviour
In most treatments of lubrication of rolling element bear-
~o~
ings, it is assumed that an equilibrium of forces exists all
the time. In many applications, the use of ehl theory with
this assumption gives results which are sufficiently accurate
enough for practical engineering use.
> Theoretical analysis of the non-steady-state ehl problem has
been reported by Petronsevitch et al 1~ , Dowson et alaa ,
Markho et ala4 and Holland a5 but a complete solution is
,2 tO I still not available. Gupta a6 has analysed in detail the
dynamics of cylindrical roller and ball bearings,

Gears
...... ;o" ........ ,o" ....... ;'o 106 107 The contact between two gear teeth is more difficult to
Bearing speed factor, Ndm,mmxr/min analyse than a ball or roller bearing contact. With bearings,
Fig 4 Thermal correction factor, Cth, for values of kinematic a steady-state situation often prevails. In a gear-tooth
viscosity and bearing speed factor, Nd m (from meshing cycle, a highly transient condition of changing
Reference 28) kinematics, contact load, contact geometry and surface

TRI BOLOGY international June 1982 125

 Holmberg - Survey of applications of ehl on machine elements

temperature exists with the moving contact on the gear
tooth.
The situation is further complicated by the contact not
being ideally elasto-hydrodynamic. In most cases, except the
lightly loaded gears, there are contact conditions more like
mixed or boundary lubrication; these are the lubrication
regimes that are least understoo&
Nevertheless, a great number of studies have shown that ehl
theory is a useful tool in predicting the occurrence and
severity of various kinds of tooth wear and the coefficients
of tooth friction.
Prediction of surface distress
The field and laboratory test data from Wellauer and
Holloway 37 indicate that the critical specific film thickness
parameter is not a constant but varies directly with the pitch
line velocity (Fig 6). The data are largely from gear sets
hardened throughout and lubricated with petroleum gear
oils, but they do also contain test data from surface
hardened gearing using an ester-type lubricant. The scatter
of the data is probably due, in some part, to variation in
additive chemistry. Fig 7 is a replot of the data.
The observations can be summarised as follows:
When X > 2, no tooth distress occurs.
When 0.7 < ?, < 2, distress can be pitting, wear or scoring,
depending on the precise condition of film surface
texture and lubricant.
When X < 0.7, boundary lubrication prevails, and the
physical and chemical interactions at the surface, loads
and temperatures influence greatly the modes and rates
of distress.
Detailed examinations of the gear tooth failures can be
found3m 39"

Gears hardened throughout /o No distress Simplified film thickness formula

Petroleumlubricant fe Distressed Because of the very complicated contact conditions in gear
Carburisedpinions-nitrided geors].a No distress tooth contacts, several simplifications have been necessary.
Polyester lubricant fll Distressed Most of the applications of elasto-hydrodynamics to gearing
I0 o
0 have been limited to predictions of contact conditions at the
50_ o og o~ . pitch point or to a simplification of transien't conditions
occurring throughout the meshing cycle to a quasi steady-
2.0
g o d ,.- an "20 state situation.
_ - ? . ~ 8 ~ 2 ~ t e ~ ~ t ~ - ~ 8o
Fig 8 shows the velocity variations in the contact as it moves
~ 0.5
along the gear tooth. A common approximation of the pro-
~= /f~p~ ~ % Probability
files of the gear tooth is to assume that they 6an be simulated
cn~
0.2~0050.1--__~ o o'~~ e ~ of distress by circular arcs, as shown in Fig 8, having the same radii of
curvature as the gear tooth at the point of contact.
By this simplification, the equations developed for the ehl of
0.02 oo o /
rollers can be applied to gear contacts. Eq (1) can be greatly
O.OL I L I I simplified, with sufficient accuracy for practical situations,
0.005 0.05 0.5 5 50 500
Pitch line velocity, m/s as follows:
Fig 6 Influence of specific film thickness and pitch line hp = 0.5 (*/o u'R') ~/2 (4)
velocity on surface distress (from Reference 3 7) For parallel shaft gears, ie spur and helical gears, the follow-
ing approximate form in terms of gear dimensions can be
used 41 :

8oll
hp = 1.7 x 10 -3 (no Vp) 2/3 ll/3 (5)
where
Pitch line
velocity, hp Minimum film thickness at the pitch line,/Jm
m/s *70 Oil viscosity at atmospheric pressure and at the

\\V
temperature of the gear tooth surface, cP
u' Average surface velocity, 0.5 (U 1 + U 2), m / s
Vp Pitch line speed, m/s
6O l Centre distance, mm
g Bartz 42 has recommended a similar simplification for the
film thickness formula where the pressure coefficient of
"ID viscosity is included.
---
O 40

.X
Steady-state film thickness formula
oe~
More accurate values for the film thickness at the pitch line
o 20
k,_,.,,\ \ of involute spur gears can be calculated from the formula
developed by Dowson and Higginson43 . The minimum film
thickness is typically about one half of the pitch line value
for large gear ratios and roughly equal to the pitch line value
0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 for gear ratios near one.
Specific film thickness, X Later, Gu m extended Dowson and Higginson's approach to
Fig 7 Probability of tooth surface distress (from determine the film thickness variation along the entire line
Reference 37) of action. Both assume that the bulk surface temperature is

126 TRIBOLOGY i n t e r n a t i o n a l June 1982

 Holmberg - Survey o f appfications o f ehl on machine elements
known and ignore the squeeze film effect. Gu recommends
the use of the pitch point values for the calculation o f film
thickness and contact pressure, because they represent the
most severe values in a gear system.
The elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication o t spur gears has
further been treated by T0wnsend 4s who gives a useful
overall view of gear lubrication. Wellauer and Holloway a7
present a practical monograph for determining gear t o o t h
film thickness for a wide range of gear drive conditions. In
two papers, Akin 46'4~ has studied the lubrication of gears
and developed the elasto-hydrodynamic equations needed
for use in various types o f gears. He presents a generalized
formula, which unites the calculation procedure for all
types of gears with a dominant rolling component of
motion.
Unfortunately, both Akin 46'47 and Wellauer and Holloway 37
use the average value for the surface roughnesses when
calculating the specific film thickness, instead o f the
square root of the sum of the squares of the roughness
values, as in Eq (2). The latter method, which is suggested
by Tallian, has statistical roots and is to be recommended.
A practical method for calculating the pitch point film
thickness of all types of gears, but hypoid and worm gears,
can be found 18'48 . These calculations are based on the
lowest speed gear because this is the most critical in the
formation of an ehl film.
In a recent paper, Simon 49 has presented a full thermal ehl
analysis of the lubrication of hypoid gears. He shows that
the isothermal solution~ for most operating conditions,
highly overestimates the load capacity. For worm gears
no detailed analysis of film thickness has yet been
developed due to the complex contact conditions.
SAP PP EAP
Distance along line of contact
Fig 8 Comparison of the contact in gears and rollers (from
Reference 40)
TRIBOLOGY international June1982
l04
10 3
o
o IOZ
E
0
~- l0 t
i0 C _ I I l l1H[
0.01 0.1 IO I0 IO0 I000
Pitch line velocity, m/s
Fig 9 Thermal correction factor, Cth, for values of
kinematic viscosity and gear pitch line velocity (from
Reference 28)
Gears lubricated with open gear lubricants, greases or an
inadequate oil supply may suffer from starvation and a
correction factor of 0.7 for the film thickness should be
used. Lubricant and lubricant temperature effects in
gearing are treated in a review by Bartz s .
Thermal effects
At high speeds or with high viscosity lubricants, the con-
siderable shearing which occurs in the inlet zone may cause
the oil inlet temperature to rise, which decreases the
viscosity and hence reduces the film thickness. This can be
taken into account by using a thermal correction factor for
the isothermal film thickness 2a .
In Fig 9, the solid curves are drawn for spur gears with a
20 pressure angle. The Cth = 0.90 line is drawn in double
thickness since the thermal effects can reasonably be
neglected if Cth > 0.90. The dashed lines at the sides of the
Cth = 0.90 line indicate a correction value of 0.90 for
pressure angles o f 14.5 and 25 . The dotted line is for a
pressure angle o f 14.5 and a helical angle of 30 . The
differences in geometry do not significantly influence the
thermal effects and for practical purposes, using a 20
pressure angle spur gear as a model is satisfactory.
The heat generated by the sliding action decreases the film
thickness in the beginning and at the end of the contact
but not at the pitch point. This effect has been studied b y
Rodermund sl and Wallinger s2 and is shown in Fig 10.
A detailed study of the frictional heat, flash temperature,
heat dissipation and equilibrium temperature in spur gears
is found in the work of Wang sa . In Fig 11, the minimum
film thickness, maximum equilibrium temperature and
maximum flash temperature are shown for different tooth
loads.
Transient cond.itions
The studies of Wang sa , Wang and Cheng s4 , Holland as ,
Holland and Wallingerss and Wallinger s2 indicate that the
changing flow conditions in a gear t o o t h contact do not
decrease the film thickness compared with steady state
conditions. Holland as gives the following formula for
calculating the film thickness in changing flow conditions
between two rollers:
127
Holmberg- Surveyof applicationsof ehlonmachineelements

H m i n = 1.86 G '4 ( V * ) 0"467 ~1)-0'0867 (6) 1.7' 5 I

where
V* - 77
E'R
dh
' dt
and dh/dt is the change in film thickness with time and the
other symbols are the same as defined for Eq (1). According
E
::t. 150
~"
I ,
\
Dynamic film thickness -60
.S
"
=
..~

to this method, the minimum film thickness in a gear tooth =

contact would be found at the end of the contact path and =.5
not in the beginning as a steady state calculation could
indicate (Fig 12). - \ ~_....~ E
The results of Holland and Wallinger show the same trends ,.E ~ ~_
as the film thickness analysis of spur gears by Wang s3 where E=
E Inn-- ~ ~ ~ -40 E
he takes into account both thermal effects and dynamic E "-- " S t a t i c film thickness ';
loads (Fig 13). The squeeze effect results in a thicker film at ~ n-- 166 r / s =E
the beginning of the tooth contact rather than what a P = 0.755 MN/m
steady-state analysis would predict.
" 75 - 30
=.o l I I = I I '~ - I i l I I I I = 1
-0.8 -0.4 0 0.4 0.8
."-" Relative contact position
0.9 -- , ~ / p ~ N=5O Fig 12 Film thickness in gear tooth contact at steady state
O.S -
/ ? ~ and transient conditions (from Reference 55)

/// 1.6 - -
0.7-

0.6-
1.2 - - ~ ~"" - - " ~

0.5- E /
-: _ /
0.4-- "----""~ "~" 0 8 - / W=4120N
"~ 1/ / #/ ' ' ~ ~ " N=25r/s
E / / / -~ T = 40.5C
-~ 0 . 3 - - "~ 0 . 6 - -
" E - Transient
0.2-- o= Pitch point --
iT 0 4 -- Steady state
N Rotational frequency,r/s
0.1-- ------ Isothermal 0.2--
Thermal
I I I I I I I I J I I I I I J I i I J I
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28
Distance along line of contact, x,mrn Distance along line of contact, x,mrn
Fig 10 Effect of sliding on film thickness throughout the
Fig 13 Comparison between the steady state and dynamic
tooth contact {from Reference 52)
film thickness {from Reference 53)
Effect of load
E
/~in /~ml C
*F ~="
._= Conclusions
o.81
3o ehl theory can be used in gearing design by calculating the
120
== specific film thickness. When this is less than two, the lubri-
-o.61
-II00 cation normally works well. When the specific film thick-
=2 ZC- 200 2~g ness decreases below two, the reliability of the lubrication
E
~_ -0.4 depends more and more on boundary lubrication effects.
E
IC-02 150 ~ ~- Calculations at the pitch point give a satisfactory rough
.E 6O a value for the film thickness, even if more reliable methods
g~
are needed. Fig 14 shows the influence of different para-
0- I 4O I00 E= E=
0 I 0!8 i 01.9 I i10 I MN/m EE meters on the minimum film thickness in a gear contact.
I I The load per contact width is 229 N/mm. The influence of
5 0 0I 0
i 60i00
4000 I b f / i ni o
Load, W temperature is strong and the influence of load is small.
Fig 11 Effect of load on lubrication performance in a spur There is a qualitative agreement between these results by
gear tooth contact (from Reference 53) Wallinger s2 and the results of Wang s3 .

128 T R I B O L O G Y i n t e r n a t i o n a l June 1 9 8 2
 Holmberg - Survey of applications of ehl on machine elements

To achieve better understanding of the lubrication of gears, Taking the calculation of maximum Hertzian stresses alone
it is not only necessary to handle the complex transient as a design criterion would be misleading. The stresses are
contact condition, but also to develop a better understand- higher in cam profile 2, but its reliability is better because
ing of microgeometry, and thermal and lubricant-material the reduction in the nose radius that increases the Hertzian
chemistry effects. stresses causes, at the same time, an increase in speed and
a corresponding increase in the film thickness. Fig 15 shows
C a m and t a p p e t m e c h a n i s m the film thicknesses for the two cam profiles calculated by
The operating conditions between cams and tappets are isothermal elasto-hydrodynamic theory s6's~ .
similar to those between gear flanks and the lubrication is
15.28 I 8
usually in the elasto-hydrodynamic regime. Changes in
geometry, speed and load cause temperature variations and
a transient condition of lubrication.
The benefits from using ehl theory in cam and tappet
mechanism design are shown by comparing the two cam
profiles in Fig 15.
0.6 I I I

Cam I / Cam 2
0.5

~= 0.4
.Cam 2

o.3!-
8
I I

20 0 Cam angle 2dOegree

~- o.2
sur r ~ o : 0 . 0 2 Nsm-2
2. Centre distance
O. 3. Viscosity/rotational frequency _
4. Pressure coefficient, a
5. Tooth load 0.5
6. Temperature
.. I I I
050 75 I00 125 150
Change in parameter value, /o
Fig 15 Oil film thickness for two cam profiles (from
Fig 14 Influence of different gearing parameters on Reference 56)
minimum film thickness in a gear tooth contact (from
Reference 52)

60 80 I O0 120 60 80 I00 120

,oo \ o//// ,,oo -,o I / /
, _-Oo~ - - - - /
"014 ~ 140
022

20 60
L,o

oo ) ?r_,,oo /, - 180

\\ \ ~ ~-"-N:23r/s
\\~ i _ ~ J / ~ N:8./,
~ / ~ r=100 C
a ~ T:50C J N:25r/s
b
Fig 16 Film thickness between cam and tappet at different cam angles and (a) different speeds with an oil temperature of
50C and ( b) different oil temperatures at a speed 0[23 r/s (from Reference 57)

TRI B O L O G Y international June 1982 129

Holmberg - Survey o f applications o f ehl on machine elements
Film thicknesscalculations
Film thickness calculations for the unsteady state lubrica-
tion condition in a cam and tappet contact have been
investigated by Nerge 58 and Holland 3s's9. Fig 16 shows the
influence of speed and oil temperature on film thickness
according to Holland s9 , who uses Eq (6) in his film thickness
calculations. The point of minimum film thickness is found
at about 130 . Vichard 6 has demonstrated that the squeeze
film effect tends to maintain stable conditions in a thin
lubricating film which is subject to sudden change in loading.
A simple practical formula for calculating the film thickness
with the assumption of steady-state conditions is given by
Fowles x7 and the Mobil EHL Guidebook 18
Cam design
A new way of designing the cam profile in a cam and tappet
contact is using the elasto-hydrodynamic theory as related
above. Such approaches to cam design have recently been
worked out for flat tappets by Deschler and Wittmann61 ,
for cylindrical tappets by Dyson 62 and for the finger
follower mechanism by Dyson 6a
Conclusions
ehl theory has enlarged considerably our understanding of
the contact region in interacting machine elements. This
knowledge can be applied to some of the most common
machine elements such as ball and roller bearings, gears and
cam and tappet mechanisms. By using the formulae
developed in ehl theory, machine designers can construct
machines with greater reliability.
ehl theory can also be applied to other machine elements,
such as traction drives, elastic seals, journal and thrust
bearings, foil bearings and tyres on wet roads. Efforts have
been made to apply ehl theory to developing artificial
human joints.
Even if the main features of ehl theory are well established,
there is still lack of understanding in matters of detail.
More scientific work is needed, especially on the following
topics:
The transition region between elasto-hydrodynamic and
boundary lubrication which includes both microgeometry
and chemical effects.
Lubrication at transient conditions due to variations in
speed, load and surface geometry.
Frictional behaviour which includes the question of the
physical behaviour of the lubricant in the contact.
Thermal effects, starved lubrication and lubrication with
non-Newtonian lubricants.
There is still a need for better methods of calculating the
film thickness and relating it to the probability for failure in
the more complicated gear-tooth contacts, cam and tappet
mechanisms, traction drives and elastic seals.
References
1. Grubin A.N. Fundamentals of the Hydrodynamic Theory of
Lubrication of Heavily Loaded Cylindrical Surfaces. In Investi-
gation of the Contact of Machine Components, Ketova Kh.F.
(ed], Central Scientific Research Institute for Technology and
Mechanical Engineering (TsNITMASh), Moscow, Book No. 30,
1949, 115-166
2. Dowson D. and Higginson G.R. A Numerical Solution to the
Elastohydrodynamic Problem. J. Mech. Engng. Sci., 1959,
1 (1), 6-15
130
3. Hamrock B.J. and Dowson D. Ball Bearing Lubrication: The
Elastohydrodynamics of Elliptical Contacts. John Wiley and
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-h(~) 4(2~)o ep (- ~ (
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