Combined Effects of Shear Thinning and Viscous Heating on EHL Characteristics of Rolling/Sliding Line Contacts

2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Punit Kumar ◽  
M. M. Khonsari

The combined influence of shear thinning and viscous heating on the behavior of film thickness and friction in elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) rolling/sliding line contacts is investigated numerically. The constitutive equation put forward by Carreau is incorporated into the model to describe shear thinning. An extensive set of numerical simulations is presented. Comparison of the film thickness predictions with published experiments reveals good agreement, and it is shown that thermal effect plays an important role in the precise estimation of EHL film thickness and friction coefficient. Parametric simulations show that thermal effect in shear-thinning fluids is strongly affected by the power-law index used in the Carreau equation. Comparisons of prediction of the Newtonian fluid model are presented to quantify the degree to which it overestimates the film thickness.

Author(s):  
J.Y Jang ◽  
M.M Khonsari ◽  
S Bair

Realistic prediction of the characteristics of the elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) contact requires consideration of the appropriate constitutive equation for the lubricant. In many applications, the lubricant exhibits a shear-thinning behaviour which significantly affects the film thickness. In this paper, we present a generalized formulation that can efficiently treat shear-thinning fluids with provision for compressibility in the EHL line contact. Specifically, the Carreau model and the sinh-law model are investigated. An extensive set of numerical solutions and comparison with experiments reveal that the Carreau equation properly captures the film thickness behaviour under both rolling and sliding conditions.


2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Punit Kumar ◽  
M. M. Khonsari

An extensive set of full elastohydrodynamic lubrication point contact simulations has been used to develop correction factors to account for the effect of shear-thinning lubricant behavior on the central and minimum film thickness in circular contacts under pure rolling condition. The film thickness for a shear-thinning lubricant can be easily obtained by dividing the corresponding Newtonian film thickness by the appropriate correction factor. Comparisons of the film thickness values obtained using the correction factors have been matched with the published experimental results pertaining to shear-thinning lubricants with a variety of realistic flow and piezoviscous properties under a wide range of operating speed. The good agreement between them establishes the validity and versatility of the correction factors developed in this paper.


1994 ◽  
Vol 116 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. Myllerup ◽  
A. A. Elsharkawy ◽  
B. J. Hamrock

The perturbational approach that assumes Couette dominance in non-Newtonian elastohydrodynamic lubrication analysis is discussed. The assumption is found valid for non-Newtonian fluid models exhibiting Newtonian properties at low shear strain rate. A general non-Newtonian fluid model which meets that requirement is incorporated into elastohydrodynamic lubrication analysis of line contacts by using the perturbational approach. In the case of a circular fluid model the results obtained from the perturbational approach are in good agreement with those obtained from the direct approach. However, a better convergence and the possibility of avoiding using stress boundary conditions at high shear stress can be achieved by using the perturbational approach. Results are presented for various values of the shape exponent in the general model, and it transpires that this also is an important parameter of the fluid model.


Author(s):  
I. I. Kudish ◽  
P. Kumar ◽  
M. M. Khonsary ◽  
S. Bair

The prediction of elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) film thickness requires knowledge of the lubricant properties. Today, in many instances, the properties have been obtained from a measurement of the central film thickness in an optical EHL point contact simulator and the assumption of a classical Newtonian film thickness formula. This technique has the practical advantage of using an effective pressure-viscosity coefficient which compensates for shear-thinning. We have shown by a perturbation analysis and by a full EHL numerical solution that the practice of extrapolating from a laboratory scale measurement of film thickness to the film thickness of an operating contact within a real machine may substantially overestimate the film thickness in the real machine if the machine scale is smaller and the lubricant is shear-thinning in the inlet zone.


2008 ◽  
Vol 131 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Punit Kumar ◽  
M. M. Khonsari

This paper investigates the traction behavior in heavily loaded thermo-elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) line contacts using the Doolittle free-volume equation, which closely represents the experimental viscosity-pressure-temperature relationship and has recently gained attention in the field of EHL, along with Tait’s equation of state for compressibility. The well-established Carreau viscosity model has been used to describe the simple shear-thinning encountered in EHL. The simulation results have been used to develop an approximate equation for traction coefficient as a function of operating conditions and material properties. This equation successfully captures the decreasing trend with increasing slide to roll ratio caused by the thermal effect. The traction-slip characteristics are expected to be influenced by the limiting shear stress and pressure dependence of lubricant thermal conductivity, which need to be incorporated in the future.


1972 ◽  
Vol 94 (4) ◽  
pp. 324-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. Rodkiewicz ◽  
V. Srinivasan

A solution to the elastohydrodynamic lubrication problem for the case of two rolling cylinders, at different speeds, is presented. The lubricant is assumed compressible throughout the region. The fourth-order Runge-Kutta method for the lubricant and an improved quadrature formula for the elastic calculations are used. Pressure and film-thickness profiles are presented for different rolling velocities. There is a good agreement with the experimental film thickness data, available in literature.


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