Parametric Study on the Running-In Behavior in Mixed-Lubricated Rectangular Contact

Due to the energy concerns, it is always desired to run the mechanical elements under optimized operating conditions. Many lubricated mechanical elements such as gears, rolling element bearings, cam and followers etc. usually operate under mixed-lubrication regime. In this regime, both the lubricant film as well as the asperities contribute in carrying the load. The life span of these elements is divided into two regimes: running-in and steady-state. In this research an efficient model has been presented to predict the variation in asperities height during running-in. The predicted results are verified with experimentally-obtained published data. A parametric study on the effect of operating conditions such as load and speed as well as initial surface roughness and material hardness on the roughness variation during running-in has been conducted.