Chapter Eight - The Shear Dependence of Viscosity at Elevated Pressure

Abstract

In the previous chapter, we saw that elevated pressure is essential to observe the shear dependence of the viscosity of lubricating liquids, even for applications in low pressure hydrodynamic bearings. Not only does the elevated pressure remove the shear cavitation restriction that limits measurement to low stress. Elevated pressure must exist in any load-supporting film in an operating bearing and very high pressure results in large viscosity which reduces viscous heating in a high shear stress measurement.