Effects of spinning on the mixed thermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication and fatigue life in point contacts

Abstract

This paper presents a numerical study on the fatigue life for the non-Newtonian mixed thermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication (TEHL) of elliptical contacts with spinning. Sinusoidal surface is used to consider the effect of surface roughness, and the influences of spinning on the mixed TEHL characteristics and fatigue life are investigated. The results show that the temperature, friction coefficient and power loss increase monotonously with the increase of spinning. The spinning motion with moderate velocity is beneficial for improve the lubrication characteristics and fatigue life. However, the fatigue life can be reduced significantly by spinning under severe mixed lubrication conditions. The effects of spinning become weak or even negligible in the full-film lubrication state.