Abstract
A non-Newtonian thermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication (TEHL) model for the elliptic contact is established, into which the inertia forces of the lubricant is incorporated. In doing so, the film pressure and film temperature are solved using the associated equations. Meanwhile, the elastic deformation is calculated with the discrete convolution and fast Fourier transform (DC-FFT) method. A film thickness experiment is conducted to validate the TEHL model considering the inertia forces. Further, effects of the inertia forces on the TEHL performances are studied at different operation conditions. The results show that when the inertia forces are considered, the central and minimum film thicknesses increase and film temperature near the inlet increases obviously. Moreover, the inertial solution of the central film thickness is closer to the experimental result compared with its inertialess value.
Highlights
As is well known, the usual Reynolds equation is derived from the Navier-Stokes equations with several simplified assumptions including negligible inertia force of the lubricant
Guo et al [3] studied the Newtonian thermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication (TEHL) properties of two elliptic contact surfaces moving in opposite directions and found that there exists a dimple of the film profile in the central contact zone
The present study aims at exploring the non-Newtonian steady-state TEHL performances of the elliptic contact under the consideration of the inertia forces of the lubricant
Summary
The usual Reynolds equation is derived from the Navier-Stokes equations with several simplified assumptions including negligible inertia force of the lubricant. This dealing is theoretically acceptable in the hydrodynamic lubrication analysis for the mechanical component operating at small values of Reynolds number of the lubricant [1] Based on this assumption, the Newtonian or non-Newtonian thermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) performances of point contacts such as ball bearings have been extensively studied theoretically and experimentally in the past years. The above studies focused on the point-contact TEHL problem, in which the fluid inertia effect is neglected For this dealing, its numerical accuracy will drop off under operation conditions with the large Reynolds number of the lubricant. Based on the above nonNewtonian TEHL model considering the fluid inertia force, the lubrication performances without and with the inertia effect are compared at the varied applied loads, entrainment velocities, slip-roll ratios and environment temperatures.
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