Fluid-structure interaction in EHD lubricated contacts close to the elastic resonance

Elasto-hydrodynamical lubrication is governed by a set of non-linear integro-differential equa- tions describing the coupling between fluid properties in a thin lubricant film and elastic defor- mations in contacting bodies. In the present paper, the non-stationary behavior of an elliptic lubricated contact in Elasto-hydrodynamical lubrication regime is investigated. Non-linear contacts in gear pairs are considered as a case study: a comparison between dry contact and lubricated contact is drawn. The lubrication conditions close to the main resonance of the linearized elastic system are pointed out. The multilevel technique is used to solve the EHD lubrication problem, together with the equation describing the relative motion of the mating gears.