Synovial joints are the lubricated connections between the bones of our body that are commonly affected in arthritis. It is assumed that synovial joints first evolved as vertebrates came to land, with ray-finned fishes lacking lubricated joints. Here, we examine the expression and function of a critical lubricating protein of mammalian synovial joints, Prg4/Lubricin, in diverse ray-finned fishe...

This work deals with the modelling of lubricated revolute joints in multibody mechanical systems. In most machines and mechanisms, the joints are designed to operate with some lubricant fluid. The high pressures generated in the lubricant fluid act to keep the journal and the bearing apart. Moreover, the thin film formed by lubricant reduces friction and wear, provides load capacity and adds da...

The dynamic analysis of planar multibody systems with revolute clearance joints, including dry contact and lubrication effects is presented here. The clearances are always present in the kinematic joints. They are known to be the sources for impact forces, which ultimately result in wear and tear of the joints. A joint with clearance is included in the multibody system much like a revolute join...

Relative motion between soft wet solids arises in a number of applications in natural and artificial settings, and invariably couples elastic deformation fluid flow. We explore this in a minimal setting by considering a fluid-immersed negatively buoyant cylinder moving along a soft inclined wall. Our experiments show that there is an emergent robust steady-state sliding regime of the cylinder w...

Recently, some novel surface engineering techniques have been developed, which may be used for extending lifetime of artificial joints; however, the full potential will not be realised until the tribological behaviour of surface engineered bio-medical materials has been fully characterised. In the present investigation, a pin-on-disc tribometer has been used to evaluate the tribological respons...

In this study, the method of multiple scales is used to perform a nonlinear vibration analysis of a mechanical system in two cases; with dry and lubricated clearance joints. In the dry contact case, the Lankarani-Nikravesh model is used to represent the contact force between the joined bodies. The surface elasticity is modeled as a nonlinear spring-damper element. Primary resonance is discussed...