Eur. Phys. J. E (2010) 32: 281-290
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2010-10625-0

Regular Article

Time-dependent fluid squeeze-out between solids with rough surfaces

¹ IFF, FZ Jülich, D-52425, Jülich, Germany
² IFAS, RWTH Aachen University, D-52074, Aachen, Germany

^* e-mail: b.persson@fz-juelich.de

Received: 19 March 2010
Accepted: 22 June 2010
Published online: 28 July 2010

Abstract

We study the time dependency of the (average) interfacial separation between an elastic solid with a flat surface and a rigid solid with a randomly rough surface, squeezed together in a fluid. As an application we discuss fluid squeeze-out between a tire tread block and a road surface. Some implications for the leakage of seals are discussed, and experimental results are presented to test the theory. The theoretical prediction for the leak rate as a function of the fluid pressure difference is in good agreement with the experimental data for all fluid pressures up to “lift-off”, where the fluid pressure equals the nominal rubber-substrate squeezing pressure.