A Note on the Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication of Soft Contacts

The clearances in highly loaded non-Hertzian contacts can be calculated directly from the dry contact pressure distribution. This note presents a method of extending the analysis into less highly loaded regions. It is shown that the method accurately predicts the clearance over much of the transition zone for Hertzian contacts and its use in a non-Hertzian situation is illustrated using the contact between a rigid cylinder and an elastomer-lined surface as an example.