A thorough characterization of all viscous flow properties relevant to steady simple shear was carried out for five liquid lubricants of current interest to tribology. Shear stresses were generated to values significant to concentrated contact lubrication. Two types of non-Newtonian response were observed: shear-thinning as a power-law fluid and near rate-independence. Functions and parameters were obtained for the temperature and pressure dependence of the viscosity and of the time constant for the Carreau-Yasuda equation. Results are consistent with free volume and kinetic theory, but directly contradict many assumptions currently utilized for numerical simulation and for extracting rheological properties from contact measurements.
Numerical simulation of nocturnal drainage flow properties in a rugged canyon
