A model of micro lubrication between two walls with an arbitrary temperature difference based on kinetic theory

Abstract

Micro lubrication of a gas between two walls with an arbitrary temperature difference is studied on the basis of the Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook–Welander model of the Boltzmann equation. Applying the slowly varying approximation, the kinetic equation is studied analytically when the Knudsen number based on the gap size is large. The leading order approximation, which ought to be the solution of the nonlinear heat transfer problem, is replaced by its free molecular solution. Due to this crude approximation, a macroscopic lubrication model of Reynolds-type equation is derived in a closed form. For an assessment of the model, a direct numerical analysis of the kinetic equation is also conducted. The lift calculated using our model approximates that of the direct numerical analysis within the error of 4% uniformly in the range of the temperature ratio between 0.75 and 2 and the Knudsen number Kn between 0.1 and 10. A heating of the moving wall reduces the lift acting on the other wall when Kn is sufficiently large, whereas it is enhanced when Kn is sufficiently small.