Surface roughness effects in line and point elastohydrodynamically lubricat
ed contacts are compared and it is shown that the underlying behaviours in
both types of contact are identical. Long wavelength components of roughnes
s are attenuated; short wavelength components pass through the conjunction
unaltered. It is also shown that the roughness attenuation, plotted against
a non-dimensional wavelength, follows almost identical curves in both case
s.