Elastohydrodynamics for soft solids with surface roughness: transient effects

Abstract: A huge number of technological and biological systems involves the lubricated contact between rough surfaces of soft solids in relative accelerated motion. Examples include dynamical rubber seals and the human joints. In this study we consider an elastic cylinder with random surface roughness in accelerated sliding motion on a rigid, perfectly flat (no roughness) substrate in a fluid. We calculate the surface deformations, interface separation and the contributions to the friction force and the normal force from the area of real contact and from the fluid. The driving velocity profile as a function of time is assumed to be either a sine-function, or a linear multi-ramp function. We show how the squeeze-in and squeeze-out processes, occurring in accelerated sliding, quantitatively affect the Stribeck curve with respect to the steady sliding. Finally, the theory results are compared to experimental data.