Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication in Ball Thrust Bearing

Abstract

This paper presents the theoretical characteristics of elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) in point contact under steady operating conditions of ball bearing thrust bearing. The numerical simulations employed a finite different method, Newton Raphson method and multigrid method to solve the modified Reynolds equation with a Non-Newtonian fluid. The general numerical schemes are implemented to investigate the profile of pressure and film thickness, with varying applied loads viscosity of lubricants and speeds. The results show that the applied load has significant effect on the film thickness profile. The contact is increase area but film thickness decrease as the applied load increase. The minimum film thickness and friction coefficient both increase significantly as viscosity of lubricant is increased. The increasing of surface velocity, the film thickness increase but film pressure decrease.