🔍 Key Concepts

• Hydrodynamic lubrication and how an oil wedge supports a load between moving surfaces • Relationship between film thickness, pressure distribution, and load capacity in a wedge-shaped oil film • How relative speed between surfaces affects the pressure in the oil film

💭 Think About

• Think about what happens to pressure in a wedge of oil when two surfaces move relative to each other—does the pressure stay the same everywhere or change along the wedge? • Consider whether making the oil film very thick always increases its ability to carry load, or whether there is an optimal thickness for hydrodynamic lubrication. • Ask yourself how increasing the sliding speed between surfaces affects the pressure in the oil wedge: does more speed generally help build more supporting pressure, or less?

✅ Before You Answer

• Check which option correctly describes how load carrying capacity varies with speed in hydrodynamic lubrication. • Verify whether pressure can realistically be uniform in a wedge-shaped film that is generating lift between two surfaces. • Consider whether only length and thickness are enough to determine load carrying capacity, or if velocity and viscosity must also play a role.