A two scale mixed lubrication wearing-in model, applied to hydraulic motors

Wearing-in of a machine component can increase the conformity between contacting pairs and smoothen the surface topography. A two scale model, combining the wearing-in effects, resulting in changes in the surface topography, with the wear that occurs on the component, is presented. The geometry of the components is represented with measured coordinates. Wear leads to changes of the geometry, which has an effect on several tribological conditions, such as contact forces, relative velocities and conformity. Due to the wear on the topography scale, the load sharing is also affected. The model is applied to orbital hydraulic motors. The wear depth predicted with the model is qualitatively in good agreement with the wear depth recorded in experiments. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.