Surface Roughness Effect on Slider Bearing Lubrication

Abstract

The effect of roughness of surfaces of a slider bearing on the load-carrying capacity and friction force, is studied. The distinction is made between waviness and roughness, the latter being treated as a random quantity which may be characterized by a probability density function, determined experimentally. Results can be obtained in closed form suitable for calculation if a Beta distribution is assumed. Actually, this can approximate quite closely a Gaussian distribution, yielding quite accurate results. However, the procedure developed can be carried out for any desired distribution.