Theory of viscoelastic lubrication

We study the lubricated (wet) contact mechanics of a smooth hard cylinder sliding on a randomly rough nominally flat surface of a linear viscoelastic solid. We calculate the rolling and sliding friction, and study the transition from the boundary lubrication to the elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication regime. For the viscoelastic contact the minimum (average) separation does not monotonically increase with the sliding velocity, and the Stribeck curve exhibits new structures not shown for elastic solids.