Rheological behavior of confined fluids in thin lubricated contacts

Continuum based methods are traditionally thought to be of little value in describing boundary lubrication, or the mode of lubrication in molecular sc ale films that may occur at asperity interactions during the sliding of nom inally flat surfaces. There is considerable experimental evidence, which su ggests that the classical theory may be valid with modification to films as thin as several nanometers. In addition, lubricants, which exhibit viscous liquid properties in bulk, may form attached solid-like elastic layers whe n confined between solid surfaces. In the present paper, the simple ''elast ic foundation'' concept is used to model the elastic layers, in contact wit h a viscous fluid film. Several typical bearing contact flow problems are s olved, giving hope that boundary lubrication may eventually be modeled in t he same manner as hydrodynamic lubrication in thicker films.