Existence of solutions of the Reynolds' equation of elastohydrodynamic lubrication (Q1086058)

The authors have proved some theorems establishing the existence of solutions of a highly nonlinear variational inequality arising in the study of the flow of an incompressible Newtonian lubricant between elastically-deforming bearings. The problem is formally equivalent to the Reynolds equation in elastohydrodynamic lubrication theory. The key to the analyses of this class of problems is that they are characterized by pseudomonotone operators, which means that established results on pseudomonotone variational inequalities are applicable.