The Effects of Three-Dimensional Model Surface Roughness Features on Lubricant Film Thickness in EHL Contacts

2003 ◽  
Vol 125 (3) ◽  
pp. 533-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian W. Choo ◽  
Romeo P. Glovnea ◽  
Andrew V. Olver ◽  
Hugh A. Spikes

The Spacer Layer Imaging method has been used to investigate the influence of three-dimensional roughness features on the thickness and shape of elastohydrodynamic (EHL) films. An array of near-hemispherical bumps was employed to represent asperities. A micro-EHL film developed at the bumps whose orientation depended on that of the inlet boundary at the location at which the bump had entered the contact. Rolling-sliding conditions induced a micro-EHL film with a classical horseshoe shape at the bumps. The flow of lubricant around the bumps appeared to differ between thin and thick films.

Author(s):  
H. A. Spikes ◽  
P. M. Cann

This paper reviews the historical development of optical interferometry as applied to the study of lubricant films. The technique was first applied to lubricated contacts in the 1960s, when it played an important role in the validation of the elastohydrodynamic theory of lubrication. Initially the method was not suited to the study of mixed and boundary lubrication because it could not measure film thicknesses of less than about 50 nm. In the 1970s, however, this limitation was partially overcome by the use of a spacer layer and this, coupled in the early 1990s with spectrometric analysis of the interfered light, enabled films down to just 1 nm thick to be measured in lubricated contacts, well within the boundary lubrication regime. Recently a number of workers have applied colorimetric image analysis to optical interference images to enable accurate three-dimensional maps of film distribution in lubricated contacts to be determined. This approach, coupled with the use of a spacer layer, has led to the spacer layer imaging method, which can map film thickness in boundary and mixed lubricated contact. Some recent applications of this technique are described.


2016 ◽  
Vol 08 (02) ◽  
pp. 1650014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kun Zhou ◽  
Qingbing Dong

This paper develops a three-dimensional (3D) model for a heterogeneous half-space with inclusions distributed periodically beneath its surface subject to elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) line-contact applied by a cylindrical loading body. The model takes into account the interactions between the loading body, the fluid lubricant and the heterogeneous half-space. In the absence of subsurface inclusions, the surface contact pressure distribution, the half-space surface deformation and the lubricant film thickness profile are obtained through solving a unified Reynolds equation system. The inclusions are homogenized according to Eshelby’s equivalent inclusion method (EIM) with unknown eigenstrains to be determined. The disturbed half-space surface deformations induced by the subsurface inclusions or eigenstrains are iteratively introduced into the lubricant film thickness until the surface deformation finally converges. Both time-independent smooth surface contact and time-dependent rough surface contact are considered for the lubricated contact problem.


2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Barchiesi ◽  
S. Kessentini

The fabrication process of nanodevices is continually improved. However, most of the nanodevices, such as biosensors present rough surfaces with mean roughness of some nanometers even if the deposition rate of material is more controlled. The effect of roughness on performance of biosensors was fully addressed for plane biosensors and gratings, but rarely addressed for biosensors based on Local Plasmon Resonance. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate numerically the influence of nanometric roughness on the efficiency of a dimer nano-biosensor (two levels of roughness are considered). Therefore, we propose a general numerical method, that can be applied to any other nanometric shape, to take into account the roughness in a three dimensional model. The study focuses on both the far-field, which corresponds to the experimental detected data, and the near-field, responsible for exciting and then detecting biological molecules. The results suggest that the biosensor efficiency is highly sensitive to the surface roughness. The roughness can produce important shifts of the extinction efficiency peak and a decrease of its amplitude resulting from changes in the distribution of near-field and absorbed electric field intensities.


Author(s):  
F. Mora ◽  
P. Sainsot ◽  
A. A. Lubrecht ◽  
Y. le Chenadec

This paper is an extension of the Amplitude Reduction Theory to soft ElastoHydrodynamic contacts. The ART permits a quantitative prediction of the influence of surface roughness on the lubricant film thickness modification as a function of the operating conditions.


2012 ◽  
Vol 184-185 ◽  
pp. 180-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gang Ma ◽  
Wei Zhao ◽  
Xin Min Shen

The three dimensional model was established for studying performance of spiral groove gas face seal. According to machining features of different surface area, the seal face can be divided into three parts, rotor ring grooved area, rotor ring non-grooved area and static ring area. The effect of roughness on seal performance was analyzed based on calculation of three dimensional flow field. The analysis results show that the surface roughness of rotor ring grooved area has great influence on the seal performance, but the influence is little when roughness on non-grooved rotor ring surface and static ring surface. The influence must be considered when surface roughness of rotor ring grooved area bigger than 0.2μm. Roughness of rotor ring surface can increase the loading force while it also can cause the increase of leakage. It is important to select rational roughness when designing gas face seal.


2016 ◽  
Vol 139 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaopeng Wang ◽  
Yuchuan Liu ◽  
Dong Zhu

Elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) is a common mode of fluid-film lubrication in which many machine elements operate. Its thermal behavior is an important concern especially for components working under extreme conditions such as high speeds, heavy loads, and surfaces with significant roughness. Previous thermal EHL (TEHL) studies focused only on the cases with smooth surfaces under the full-film lubrication condition. The present study intends to develop a more realistic unified TEHL model for point contact problems that is capable of simulating the entire transition of lubrication status from the full-film and mixed lubrication all the way down to boundary lubrication with real machined roughness. The model consists of the generalized Reynolds equation, elasticity equation, film thickness equation, and those for lubricant rheology in combination with the energy equation for the lubricant film and the surface temperature equations. The solution algorithms based on the improved semi-system approach have demonstrated a good ability to achieve stable solutions with fast convergence under severe operating conditions. Lubricant film thickness variation and temperature rises in the lubricant film and on the surfaces during the entire transition have been investigated. It appears that this model can be used to predict mixed TEHL characteristics in a wide range of operating conditions with or without three-dimensional (3D) surface roughness involved. Therefore, it can be employed as a useful tool in engineering analyses.


1974 ◽  
Vol 188 (1) ◽  
pp. 673-682 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Onions ◽  
J. F. Archard

Pitting tests using 127 mm (5 in) centres distance gear rig under controlled conditions are described. These are compared with similar disc tests using the same materials and lubricants. Tests of both types confirm Dawson's conclusion that an important factor influencing pitting life is the ratio of surface roughness to the calculated lubricant film thickness. It has been shown that using a hunting tooth ratio, particularly when associated with a rough harder surface and a surface finish oriented normal to the motion, increases the likelihood of wear. Most importantly, the results show that using disc tests can greatly overestimate the pitting life of gears. These experiments and other evidence from the literature suggest that the most probable reason for these differences between gears and discs lies in dynamic gear loads.


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