Wear simulation in non-lubricated and mixed lubricated contacts taking into account the microscale roughness

Abstract

Wear is a phenomenon that occurs in every technical system and represents the limiting factor in the operational durability. Therefore, it is very important to predict the amount of wear for a tribological system in a reliable manner. In this investigation, different journal bearing materials are investigated in focus of wear behaviour in combination with a shaft of steel. The aim of this investigation is to simulate sliding wear on two rough surface profiles in a non-lubricated and mixed-lubricated regime, taking into account the real surface topography of the bearing and the shaft. The whole numerical investigation is taking place at the microscopic level and is modelled with the finite elements software Abaqus (Dessault Simulia) in combination with the programming language Python for applying wear on the rough surfaces. All investigations for the mixed-lubricated regime are based on the lubrication model of Lorentz [1] and taking into account the new add-ons described in [2].