Elastohydrodynamic Film Thickness in Elliptical Contacts With Spinning and Rolling

1999 ◽  
Vol 121 (4) ◽  
pp. 686-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Zou ◽  
Changhua Huang ◽  
Shizhu Wen

In this paper, a theoretical model for the film thickness prediction of elastohydrodynamic lubrication of elliptical contacts with spinning and rolling/sliding motions is presented, in which 1) an effective ellipticity ratio ke is introduced to present the ellipse feature instead of the normal ellipticity ratio k in case of that the entraining velocity at the center of contact ellipse is at an angle with minor axis, 2) Roelands and Dowson-Higginson’s equations are adopted to express the influence of pressure upon lubricant viscosity and density, 3) multilevel/multigrid techniques, with low complexity and good stability, are used for the purpose of reducing computing time in the complex numerical analysis. With this model the characteristics of film shape and pressure distribution of elastohydrodynamic lubrication of elliptical concentrated contacts with spinning and rolling/sliding were discussed. The results showed that the spinning motion has significant influence on the film shape and pressure distribution. Based on a large number of numerical results of elastohydrodynamic lubrication analysis of elliptical concentrated contacts with spinning and rolling/sliding, new expressions for the minimum and central film thickness prediction were regressed. Their accuracy was analyzed by comparisons with numerical results of an evaluation set and others’ expressions under pure rolling and/or sliding condition. The comparisons showed that the two new expressions have satisfactory accuracy and potential application to engineering analysis and design.

Author(s):  
Ton Lubrecht ◽  
Nans Biboulet ◽  
Kees Venner

The current paper highlights the contribution of the Dowson and Higginson work to numerical line contact elastohydrodynamic lubrication film thickness prediction and the Hamrock and Dowson contribution to the film thickness prediction in elliptical contacts. This paper shows that, even by today’s standards, both the numerical pressure and film thickness results and the curve-fitted film thickness predictions are very accurate. As for the elliptical results, the authors show that the original predictions remain surprisingly accurate for moderately elliptical contact. For very long elliptical contacts, their prediction does not tend to a line contact asymptote. This paper then concludes that the predicted pressure spikes by Dowson, Higginson, and Hamrock are correct in shape and amplitude, at least near pure rolling conditions.


Author(s):  
C A Holt ◽  
H P Evans ◽  
R W Snidle

The paper describes a numerical solution method for the point contact elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) problem under non-Newtonian, isothermal conditions. The theoretical formulation of the non-Newtonian effect is general and may be applied to both shear thinning and limiting shear stress behaviour. The particular rheological model investigated in this work is the Eyring ‘sinh law’ relation. The numerical solution of the lubrication equations is based upon a control volume approach rather than the more usual methods that utilize a modified Reynolds equation. This new approach ensures that flow continuity is satisfied at the discretization level. Results are presented to show the effect of non-Newtonian behaviour on film thickness and pressure distribution in circular EHL contacts operating over a range of slide-roll ratios from 0 (pure rolling) to 1.5. Under conditions of pure rolling or low sliding there is found to be little effect of non-Newtonian behaviour, but at the highest degree of sliding the film thickness over the central, flattened area of the contact is reduced by up to 10 per cent at the highest rolling speed of 0.75 m/s.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Abd Alsamieh

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the behavior of a single ridge passing through elastohydrodynamic lubrication of point contacts problem for different ridge shapes and sizes, including flat-top, triangular and cosine wave pattern to get an optimal ridge profile. Design/methodology/approach The time-dependent Reynolds’ equation is solved using Newton–Raphson technique. Several shapes of surface feature are simulated and the film thickness and pressure distribution are obtained at every time step by simultaneous solution of the Reynolds’ equation and film thickness equation, including elastic deformation. Film thickness and pressure distribution are chosen to be the criteria in the comparisons. Findings The geometrical characteristics of the ridge play an important role in the formation of lubricant film thickness profile and the pressure distribution through the contact zone. To minimize wear, friction and fatigue life, an optimal ridge profile should have smooth shape with small ridge size. Obtained results are compared with other published numerical results and show a good agreement. Originality/value The study evaluates the performance of different surface features of a single ridge with different shapes and sizes passing through elastohydrodynamic of point contact problem in relation to film thickness and pressure profile.


2005 ◽  
Vol 127 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Fe´lix-Quin˜onez ◽  
P. Ehret ◽  
J. L. Summers

A direct comparison between experimental and numerical results for the passage of an array of 3D flat-top, square shaped surface features through an EHL point contact is presented. Results for pure rolling conditions show that the features’ deformation in the high-pressure region is governed by their ability to entrap lubricant both underneath and in the grooves during their passage through the inlet zone. Film perturbations associated with each defect occur as locally enhanced regions of lubricant and film thickness micro-constrictions. Under sliding conditions the features sustain further deformations as they traverse the high-pressure conjunction and meet the highly viscous lubricant entrapped in the grooves, which moves at a different velocity. Lubricant is also seen to accumulate just in front or behind the features depending on the slide-to-roll ratio. Overall, the results highlight the importance of understanding the effects of the defects structure and the lubricant rheology on the film thickness to unravel the effects of real roughness patterns.


1994 ◽  
Vol 116 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farshid Sadeghi ◽  
Kyung-Hoon Kim

A time-dependent thermal compressible elastohydrodynamic lubrication of line contact model has been developed to investigate the effects of a single bump or dent in heavily loaded rolling/sliding contacts. The results illustrate the transient behavior of the film thickness, pressure and temperature distributions as a bump or a dent travels through the contact. The multigrid multilevel technique was used to simultaneously solve the discretized time dependent Reynolds, elasticity and energy equations. The effects of various loads and speeds have been investigated. Results are presented for the nondimensional loads of W = 1.3 × 10−4, 2.3 × 10−4 and nondimensional speeds ranging from U = 1 × 10−11 to U = 10−10 under pure rolling and rolling/sliding conditions.


Author(s):  
Yuchuan Liu ◽  
Q. Jane Wang ◽  
Scott Bair ◽  
Philippe Vergne

We present a realistic elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) simulation in point contact using a Carreau-like model for the shear-thinning response and the Doolittle-Tait free-volume viscosity model for the piezoviscous response. The liquid is a high viscosity polyalphaolefin which possesses a relatively low threshold for shear-thinning. As a result, the measured EHL film thickness is about one-half of the Newtonian prediction. We derived and numerically solved the two-dimensional generalized Reynolds equation for the modified Carreau model based on Greenwood [1]. Departing from many previous solutions, the viscosity models used for the pressure and shear dependence were obtained entirely from viscometer measurements. Truly remarkable agreement is found in the comparisons of simulation and experiment for traction coefficient and for film thickness in both pure rolling and sliding cases. This agreement validates the use of a generalized Newtonian model in EHL.


2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuchuan Liu ◽  
Q. Jane Wang ◽  
Ivan Krupka ◽  
Martin Hartl ◽  
Scott Bair

Lubricant base oils are often blends of different molecular weight cuts to arrive at a specified ambient pressure viscosity and, to improve the temperature-viscosity behavior or to simply increase the viscosity, viscosity-modifying polymer additives are often added to the base oil. This paper investigates the effect of mixture rheology on elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) film thickness using EHL contact measurements and a full numerical analysis for three synthetic lubricants including two single-component lubricants PAO650 and PAO100 and a mixture of these. The pressure and shear dependences of the viscosity of these lubricants were measured with high-pressure viscometers; viscosities were not adjusted to fit experiment. The point contact film thicknesses for these lubricants in pure rolling were measured using a thin-film colorimetric interferometry apparatus. Numerical simulations based on the measured rheology show very good agreement with the measurements of film thickness while the Newtonian prediction is up to twice the measurement. These results validate the use of realistic shear-thinning and pressure-viscosity models, which originate from viscosity measurements. It is conceivable that simulation may provide a means to “engineer” lubricants with the optimum balance of film thickness and friction through intelligent mixing of components.


2013 ◽  
Vol 281 ◽  
pp. 329-334
Author(s):  
Jun He ◽  
Huang Ping ◽  
Qian Qian Yang

In the present paper, a new method for measuring elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) pressure in line contact is proposed, which is based on the photoelastic technique. The pressure distribution of EHL film and the inner stresses in the friction pairs are fundamental issues to carry out EHL research. The film thickness, pressure and temperature have been successfully obtained with solving the basic equations such as Reynolds equation and energy equation simultaneously or separately, with numerical model of EHL problem. The film thickness can be also measured with the optical interference technique. However, the pressure measurement is still a problem which has not been well solved yet, so as the inner stresses inside the friction pairs. With the experimental mechanics, the photoelastic technique is a possible method to be used for measuring the pressure distribution of EHL film and inner friction pair in the line contact. Therefore, A flat plastic disk and a steel roller compose the frictional pairs of the photoelastic pressure measuring rig with combining the monochromatic LED light source, polarizer CCD camera and stereomicroscope to form the whole pressure measuring system of the line contact EHL. The experimental results with the rig display the typical features of EHL pressure. This shows that the method is feasible to be used for measuring the pressure of EHL film and the inner stresses of the friction pairs in the line contact.


The relation between shear stress and shear rate has been determined for elastohydrodynamic oil films. At low values the rate of shear is directly proportional to the shear stress, but at higher values the shear rate increases more rapidly than the stress. It is shown that the critical factor is the magnitude of the shear stress, not the shear rate, and that this critical magnitude depends upon the pressure and the molecular size. Above the critical stress, in the non-Newtonian region, the shape of the curve relating the stress to the rate of shear depends upon the distribution of the sizes of the molecules in the oil. It is shown that in elastohydrodynamic conditions the limits of Newtonian behaviour are frequently exceeded and that this is liable to influence the pressure distribution, the magnitude of the traction, the generation of heat, and, at high speeds, the value of the film thickness.


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