Professor Duncan Dowson, a source of inspiration

Author(s):  
Ton Lubrecht ◽  
Nans Biboulet ◽  
Kees Venner

The current paper highlights the contribution of the Dowson and Higginson work to numerical line contact elastohydrodynamic lubrication film thickness prediction and the Hamrock and Dowson contribution to the film thickness prediction in elliptical contacts. This paper shows that, even by today’s standards, both the numerical pressure and film thickness results and the curve-fitted film thickness predictions are very accurate. As for the elliptical results, the authors show that the original predictions remain surprisingly accurate for moderately elliptical contact. For very long elliptical contacts, their prediction does not tend to a line contact asymptote. This paper then concludes that the predicted pressure spikes by Dowson, Higginson, and Hamrock are correct in shape and amplitude, at least near pure rolling conditions.

2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong Zhu ◽  
Q. Jane Wang

Effect of roughness orientation on lubricant film thickness has been an important issue of surface design, attracting much attention since the 1970 s. A systematical study, however, is still needed for various contact types in an extended range of operating conditions, especially in mixed lubrication cases with film thickness to roughness ratio (λ ratio) smaller than 0.5. The present study employs a deterministic mixed elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) model to investigate the performance of lubricating films in different types of contact geometry, including the line contact, circular contact, and elliptical contacts of various ellipticity ratios. The speed range for analyzed cases covers 11 orders of magnitude so that the entire transition from full-film and mixed EHL down to dry contact (corresponding λ ratio from about 3.5 down to 0.001 or so) is simulated. Three types of machined surfaces are used, representing transverse, longitudinal, and isotropic roughness, respectively. The line contact results are compared with those from the stochastic models by Patir and Cheng (“Effect of Surface Roughness Orientation on the Central Film Thickness in EHD Contacts,” Proc. 5th Leeds-Lyon Symp. on Tribol., 1978, pp. 15–21) and the influence of roughness orientation predicted by the deterministic model is found to be less significant than that by the stochastic models, although the basic trends are about the same when λ > 0.5. The orientation effect for circular or elliptical contact problems appears to be more complicated than that for line contacts due to the existence of significant lateral flows. In circular contacts, or elliptical contacts with the ellipticity ratio smaller than one, the longitudinal roughness may become more favorable than the isotropic and transverse. Overall, the orientation effect is significant in the mixed EHL regime where theλratio is roughly in the range from 0.05 to 1.0. It is relatively insignificant for both the full-film EHL (λ > 1.2 or so) and the boundary lubrication/dry contact (λ < 0.025 ∼ 0.05).


1994 ◽  
Vol 116 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farshid Sadeghi ◽  
Kyung-Hoon Kim

A time-dependent thermal compressible elastohydrodynamic lubrication of line contact model has been developed to investigate the effects of a single bump or dent in heavily loaded rolling/sliding contacts. The results illustrate the transient behavior of the film thickness, pressure and temperature distributions as a bump or a dent travels through the contact. The multigrid multilevel technique was used to simultaneously solve the discretized time dependent Reynolds, elasticity and energy equations. The effects of various loads and speeds have been investigated. Results are presented for the nondimensional loads of W = 1.3 × 10−4, 2.3 × 10−4 and nondimensional speeds ranging from U = 1 × 10−11 to U = 10−10 under pure rolling and rolling/sliding conditions.


1999 ◽  
Vol 121 (4) ◽  
pp. 686-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Zou ◽  
Changhua Huang ◽  
Shizhu Wen

In this paper, a theoretical model for the film thickness prediction of elastohydrodynamic lubrication of elliptical contacts with spinning and rolling/sliding motions is presented, in which 1) an effective ellipticity ratio ke is introduced to present the ellipse feature instead of the normal ellipticity ratio k in case of that the entraining velocity at the center of contact ellipse is at an angle with minor axis, 2) Roelands and Dowson-Higginson’s equations are adopted to express the influence of pressure upon lubricant viscosity and density, 3) multilevel/multigrid techniques, with low complexity and good stability, are used for the purpose of reducing computing time in the complex numerical analysis. With this model the characteristics of film shape and pressure distribution of elastohydrodynamic lubrication of elliptical concentrated contacts with spinning and rolling/sliding were discussed. The results showed that the spinning motion has significant influence on the film shape and pressure distribution. Based on a large number of numerical results of elastohydrodynamic lubrication analysis of elliptical concentrated contacts with spinning and rolling/sliding, new expressions for the minimum and central film thickness prediction were regressed. Their accuracy was analyzed by comparisons with numerical results of an evaluation set and others’ expressions under pure rolling and/or sliding condition. The comparisons showed that the two new expressions have satisfactory accuracy and potential application to engineering analysis and design.


1974 ◽  
Vol 188 (1) ◽  
pp. 221-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. G. Wymer ◽  
A. Cameron

In Part 1, optical interferometry is used to study an elastohydrodynamically lubricated line contact between a taper roller and a glass plate under pure rolling conditions. The results give detailed information on film profiles and show the effects of end blending, lubricant starvation, deep scratches and static oil entrapments. In Part 2, oil film thicknesses in an elastohydrodynamic line contact are measured using optical interferometry and compared with theory. Two empirical formulae are derived for film thickness in the central region and at the exit constriction. In addition to the optical measurements, electrical measurements (resistance and capacitance) are made simultaneously, enabling a direct comparison to be made.


2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Punit Kumar ◽  
Tapash Jyoti Kalita

Transient film thickness behavior is investigated using full elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) line contact simulations during film collapse due to sudden halt and impact loading. Due attention is given to realistic shear-thinning behavior and comparisons are made with a largely ignored class of EHL lubricants that exhibit linear pressure–viscosity dependence at low pressures. The EHL film collapse is found to be governed by the piezoviscous response and the linear P–V oils exhibit rapidly collapsing EHL entrapment. Under impact loading, the transient film thickness deviates markedly from the corresponding steady-state behavior and this departure is a function of lubricant rheology.


Author(s):  
Zhihe Duan ◽  
Tonghai Wu

A line contact tribo-pair is a key mechanism unit in rolling bearings, which is often characterized by ultra-high contact pressure and ultra-thin oil film. Elastohydrodynamic lubrication is often adopted to characterize the lubrication state of such a tribo-pair. As a primary parameter for elastohydrodynamic lubrication, the oil film thickness is often evaluated with simplified theoretical models or complicated measurements. So far, a comprehensive verification of the lubrication states in a real line-contact tribo-pair, however, is rarely reported. Focusing on the roller/ring tribo-pair of a wet-lubricated rolling bearing under pure rolling conditions, this study investigates the lubrication states by integrating multiple theories. Five regions including isoviscous hydrodynamic, piezoviscous hydrodynamic, elastohydrodynamic lubrication, mixture lubrication, and boundary lubrication regions can be identified using the framework. Then, validation experiments are carried out on a line contact tribo-pair test rig under the same operating conditions applied in the theoretical analysis. The oil film thickness is measured by the ultrasonic method. The analysis results demonstrate that only two regions, the elastohydrodynamic lubrication and mixture lubrication regions, can be identified using the experimental data. The identified elastohydrodynamic lubrication and mixture lubrication regions are consistent with theoretical analysis; and the Blok equation and elastohydrodynamic lubrication theory are suggested to calculate the oil film thickness in the elastohydrodynamic lubrication and mixture lubrication regions, respectively. Moreover, the oil film thickness calculated by the Dowson equation is larger than that based on the elastohydrodynamic lubrication theory due to a different viscous pressure equation.


2002 ◽  
Vol 124 (4) ◽  
pp. 811-814 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaohui Zhang ◽  
Jianbin Luo ◽  
Shizhu Wen

In this paper, a viscosity modification model is developed which can be applied to describe the thin film lubrication problems. The viscosity distribution along the direction normal to solid surface is approached by a function proposed in this paper. Based on the formula, lubricating problem of thin film lubrication (TFL) in isothermal and incompressible condition is solved and the outcome is compared to the experimental data. In thin film lubrication, according to the computation outcomes, the lubrication film thickness is much greater than that in elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL). When the velocity is adequately low (i.e., film thickness is thin enough), the pressure distribution in the contact area is close to Hertzian distribution in which the second ridge of pressure is not obvious enough. The film shape demonstrates the earlobe-like form in thin film lubrication, which is similar to EHL while the film is comparatively thicker. The transformation relationships between film thickness and loads, velocities or atmosphere viscosity in thin film lubrication differ from those in EHL so that the transition from thin film lubrication to EHL can be clearly seen.


1990 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng-Tao Wang ◽  
Yi-Ling Wang ◽  
Qing-Li Chen ◽  
Min-Run Yang

2019 ◽  
Vol 71 (9) ◽  
pp. 1080-1085 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingyu Zhang ◽  
Jing Wang ◽  
Yi Liu ◽  
Longjie Dai ◽  
Zhaohua Shang

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to use elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) theory to study the variation of the equivalent curvature radius “R” on the change of oil film thickness, pressure, temperature rise and friction coefficient in the contact zone between bush-pin in industrial chain drive. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the contact between bush and pin is simplified as infinitely long line contact. The lubrication state is studied by numerical simulation using steady-state line contact thermal EHL. The two constitutive equations, namely, Newton fluid and Ree–Eyring fluid are used in the calculations. Findings It is found that with the increase of equivalent curvature radius, the thickness of oil film decreases and the temperature rise increases. Under the same condition, the friction coefficient of Newton fluid is higher than that of Ree–Eyring fluid. When the load increases, the oil film thickness decreases, the temperature rise increases and the friction coefficient decreases; and the film thickness increases with the increase of the entraining speed under the condition “R < 1,000 mm”. Research limitations/implications The infinite line contact assumption is only an approximation. For example, the distances between the two inner plates are 5.72 mm, by considering the two parts assembled into the inner plates, the total length of the bush is less than 6 mm. The diameter of the pin and the bore diameter of the bush are 3.28 and 3.33 mm. However, the infinite line contact is also helpful in understanding the general variation of oil film characteristics and provides a reference for the future study of finite line contact of chain problems. Originality/value The change of the equivalent radius R on the variation of the oil film in the contact of the bush and the pin in industrial chain drive was investigated. The size effect influences the lubrication characteristic greatly in the bush-pin pair.


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