Numerical Solution for Thermal Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication of Line Contact with Couple Stress Fluid as Lubricant

Abstract

In this paper, the detail analysis of the influence of thermal and non-Newtonian aspects of lubricant (couple stress fluid) on EHL line contact as a function of slide-roll ratio is presented. The novel low complexity FAS(Full approximation scheme), of Multigrid scheme, with Jacobi dipole and Gauss Seidel relaxationis used for the solution of coupled equations viz.modified Reynolds equation, film thickness equation and energy equation satisfying appropriate boundary conditions. The analysis reveals the combined influence of non-Newtonian, thermal and slide-roll ratio (of bearing movingwith different speeds) on pressure, film thickness and pressure spike covering wide range of physical parameters of interest. Results show that pressure spike is strongly influenced by thermal, slide-roll ratio and non-Newtonian character of lubricant with negligible effect on overall pressure distribution. Also, minimum film thickness is slightly altered and it increases with increase in couple stress parameter. These findings confirm the importance of non-Newtonian and thermal effects in the study of EHL.