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The analysis of elastohydrodynamic lubrication is aimed at establishing more rational, practically applicable design and application criteria for concentrated contact, lubricated devices such as rolling bearings, gears, cams, and seals. In this paper, the progress made in recent years in both theoretical and experimental analysis of the elastohydrodynamic lubrication process is briefly reviewed and some preliminary results of current work are described. This work includes theoretical analysis of the elastohydrodynamic problem including thermal effects and experimental measurements of the temperature of a surface passing through a concentrated rolling-sliding contact.

Research leading to analytical modelling of surface pitting failure in contacts similar to those in spur and helical gears is reported. Development of this model is based on observations of surface pitting morphology, analysis of crack initiation and propagation for a single or a set of distributed cracks. The morphological experiments on a geared roller fatigue tester revealed slow growing surface cracks followed by a rapid growth of a single crack leading to a pit. Near surface inclusion is found to be the cause of this rapid growth. Models for determining the life for developing a single surface crack and for propagating this crack to form a single deep pit are also described.