Mathematical analysis and numerical simulation of a Reynolds-Koiter model for the elastohydrodynamic journal-bearing device

Abstract

The aim of this work is to deduce the existence of solution of a coupled problem arising in elastohydrodynamic lubrication. The lubricant pressure and concentration are modelled by Reynolds equation, jointly with the free-boundary Elrod-Adams model in order to take into account cavitation phenomena. The bearing deformation is solution of Koiter model for thin shells. The existence of solution to the variational problem presents some difficulties: the coupled character of the equations, the nonlinear multivalued operator associated to cavitation and the fact of writing the elastic and hydrodynamic equations on two different domains. In a first step, we regularize the Heaviside operator. Additional difficulty related to the different domains is circumvented by means of prolongation and restriction operators, arriving to a regularized coupled problem. This one is decoupled into elastic and hydrodynamic parts, and we prove the existence of a fixed point for the global operator. Estimations obtained for the regularized problem allow us to prove the existence of solution to the original one. Finally, a numerical method is proposed in order to simulate a real journal-bearing device and illustrate the qualitative and quantitative properties of the solution.