Soft lubrication: The elastohydrodynamics of nonconforming and conforming contacts
Soft lubrication: The elastohydrodynamics of nonconforming and conforming contacts
We study the lubrication of fluid-immersed soft interfaces and show that elastic deformation couples tangential and normal forces and thus generates lift. We consider materials that deform easily, due to either geometry (e.g. a shell) or constitutive properties (e.g. a gel or a rubber), so that the effects of pressure …