Abstract: In traditional elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) theory, it is assumed that the contact pairs are in open space, and the locations of lubricated bodies are determined exclusively by the applied loads. However, this principle cannot be applied to EHL in confined spaces where the relative position of the contact surfaces are restricted by others components, such as those in rolling bearings. Full numerical analyses have been carried out for point-contact isothermal EHL with confined gaps whereby the rigid separation of the two contact bodies is fixed, and the influences of working parameters such as speed, material and rigid separation H00 on the film thickness and load-carrying capacity have been revealed. New loading capacity and film thickness formulas are obtained from the numerical data with small errors. Experiments are also carried out, showing correlation with the theoretical results.

Key words: elastohydrodynamic lubrication;confined gap;load-carrying capacity;film thickness