There are numerous applications of thermo-fluid–structure interaction (TFSI) in engineering and nature, such as airbags, supersonic re-entry from space, hypersonic flight, gas turbines, rocket nozzles, heat exchangers, and quenching, just to name a few. Thermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication (TEHL) represents a specific subproblem of TFSI, where the involved fluid domain typically features a drastically reduced thickness in at least one spatial direction. Bearings and seals are two of the most prominent technical applications. The interaction of contacting structure surfaces separated by a thin fluid film – with or without thermal interaction - is generally of great importance in various engineering as well as biomechanical applications. In fact, according to [1], about 23% (119 EJ) of the world’s total energy consumption originates from such so-called tribological contacts. From a computational point of view, TFSI and TEHL are particularly complex problems, involving in general four fields to be adequately considered numerically: a fluid/lubrication field, a structural (or solid) field, and two temperature fields, one within the fluid/lubrication domain and one within the solid domain. In this presentation, an advanced computational method for predictive simulation capable of accurately and efficiently solving challenging large-scale TFSI and TEHL problems will be introduced, as proposed, e.g., in [2]. After having provided an overview on various features of the method, it will be focused on how Variational Multiscale Methods (VMMs) are integrated as key parts at various instances. That is, VMMs are included for accurately and efficiently solving the fluid field, the lubrication field as well as the temperature field in the fluid/lubrication domain. Furthermore, a novel three-scale VMM for improved solutions of fluid fields between solid boundaries with considerable subgrid-scale surface roughness will be outlined. Finally, results obtained with the method for various challenging industrial TFSI and TEHL applications will be shown. REFERENCES [1] K. Holmberg and A. Erdemir. Influence of tribology on global energy consumption, costs and emissions. Friction, Vol. 5, pp. 263-284, 2017. [2] V. Gravemeier, S.M. Civaner and W.A. Wall. A partitioned-monolithic finite element method for thermo-fluid–structure interaction. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, Vol. 401, pp. 115596-1 30, 2022.