An Interpolation Procedure for the Minimum Film Thickness in Point Contacts

Author(s):  
C J Hooke

Most engineering point contacts operate in, or close to, the elastic piezoviscous regime. A general interpolation procedure is presented by which the minimum film thickness in any such contact may be estimated. This procedure matches all existing numerical and experimental results with high accuracy. Design charts are provided and these enable the minimum film thickness to be read directly and also allow the effect of changes in contact geometry and operating conditions to be assessed.

Author(s):  
C J Hooke

The lowest film thicknesses in heavily loaded point contacts occur in a band around the rear of the contact. The minimum lies either at the centre of this band or at its ends, near the sides of the conjunction. The clearances in the two regions vary independently with changes in contact geometry and operating conditions, but for relatively narrow contacts and for higher loads the clearance at the contact sides is smaller than on the centre-line. This paper examines how this side clearance alters, under heavily loaded conditions, with changes in piezoviscosity.


Author(s):  
A. D. Chapkov ◽  
C. H. Venner ◽  
A. A. Lubrecht

The influence of surface roughness on the performance of bearings and gears operating under ElastoHydrodynamic Lubrication (EHL) conditions has become increasingly important over the last decade, as the average film thickness decreased due to various influences. Surface features can reduce the minimum film thickness and thus increase the wear. They can also increase the temperature and the pressure fluctuations, which directly affects the component life. In order to describe the roughness geometry inside an EHL contact, the amplitude reduction of harmonic waviness has been studied over the last ten years. This theory currently allows a quantitative prediction of the waviness amplitude and includes the influence of wavelength and contact operating conditions. However, the model assumes a Newtonian behaviour of the lubricant. The current paper makes a first contribution to the extension of the roughness amplitude reduction for EHL point contacts including non-Newtonian effects.


Author(s):  
C J Hooke

The elastohydrodynamic lubrication of point contacts is examined and results for the minimum film thickness are presented for a wide range of radius ratios and operating conditions. The results are compared with the predictions of the appropriate regime formulae. Although these formulae give a reasonable estimate of the contact's behaviour, the actual clearances are often substantially different, particularly close to the regime boundaries. Interpolation equations for seven values of radius ratio are given and these should be sufficient to allow the minimum clearance to be estimated for most isoviscous point contacts.


2000 ◽  
Vol 122 (4) ◽  
pp. 689-696 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Krˇupka ◽  
M. Hartl ◽  
R. Polisˇcˇuk ◽  
J. Cˇerma´k ◽  
M. Lisˇka

Colorimetric interferomentry has been applied to the study of EHD lubrication of point contacts under pure rolling conditions to obtain lubricant film shapes with high accuracy and resolution. An RGB CCD camera together with an extensive image processing software has enabled real time evaluation of chromatic interferograms. The classical numerical isothermal solution of EHD lubrication of point contacts has been used for the comparison with three-dimensional representations of film thickness distributions obtained from experiments. A good agreement was found between experimental and numerical EHD film shapes by comparing lubricant film profiles and positions of minimum film thickness. Both experimental results and numerical solution confirm the ratio between central and minimum film thickness to change significantly with operating conditions. [S0742-4787(00)00404-5]


Author(s):  
C J Hooke

In most line contacts the load, effective radius of curvature and entraining velocity change with time. Generally this is ignored when calculating the film thickness and a quasi-steady solution is obtained. Under most conditions the errors introduced by this are either small or are not critical. However, when the entraining velocity reverses, as, for example, in some designs of cams, the quasi-steady approach predicts that the film thickness will be zero. In practice a residual film persists and can provide adequate surface separation. Previous papers by the author have shown that the minimum film thickness at entrainment reversal depends on the rate of change of the entraining velocity. Expressions for the film thickness in the four regimes of lubrication—rigid isoviscous, rigid piezoviscous, elastic isoviscous and elastic piezoviscous—were obtained and the variations of the film thickness in the transitions between adjacent regimes examined. The present paper examines the region where more than two regimes overlap. The values of film thickness obtained are then used to develop an interpolation procedure for the accurate calculation of the minimumfilm thickness under all operating conditions.


1977 ◽  
Vol 99 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Etsion ◽  
D. P. Fleming

A flat sector shaped pad geometry for gas lubricated thrust bearings is analyzed considering both pitch and roll angles of the pad and the true film thickness distribution. Maximum load capacity is achieved when the pad is tilted so as to create a uniform minimum film thickness along the pad trailing edge. Performance characteristics for various geometries and operating conditions of gas thrust bearings are presented in the form of design curves. A comparison is made with the rectangular slider approximation. It is found that this approximation is unsafe for practical design, since it always overestimates load capacity.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wassim Habchi ◽  
Philippe Vergne

Abstract The current work presents a quantitative approach for the prediction of minimum film thickness in elastohydrodynamic lubricated (EHL) circular contacts. In contrast to central film thickness, minimum film thickness can be hard to accurately measure, and it is usually poorly estimated by classical analytical film thickness formulae. For this, an advanced finite-element-based numerical model is used to quantify variations of the central-to-minimum film thickness ratio with operating conditions, under isothermal Newtonian pure-rolling conditions. An ensuing analytical expression is then derived and compared to classical film thickness formulae and to more recent similar expressions. The comparisons confirmed the inability of the former to predict the minimum film thickness, and the limitations of the latter, which tend to overestimate the ratio of central-to-minimum film thickness. The proposed approach is validated against numerical results as well as experimental data from the literature, revealing an excellent agreement with both. This framework can be used to predict minimum film thickness in circular elastohydrodynamic contacts from knowledge of central film thickness, which can be either accurately measured or rather well estimated using classical film thickness formulae.


A technique using Newton’s rings for mapping the oil film of lubricated point contacts is described. A theoretical value for the film thickness of such contacts in elastohydrodynamic lubrication is derived. The experimental results give the exit constriction predicted by previous theory but never shown in detail. The comparison of theoretical and experimental oil film thicknesses, which is satisfactorily accurate, gives strong evidence for a viscous surface layer some 1000Å thick. This film agrees with the known ‘lubricating power’ of the various oils tested.


2001 ◽  
Vol 124 (2) ◽  
pp. 313-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Bouyer ◽  
M. Fillon

The present study deals with the experimental determination of the performance of a 100 mm diameter plain journal bearing submitted to a misalignment torque. Hydrodynamic pressure and temperature fields in the mid-plane of the bearing, temperatures in two axial directions, oil flow rate, and minimum film thickness, were all measured for various operating conditions and misalignment torques. Tests were carried out for rotational speeds ranging from 1500 to 4000 rpm with a maximum static load of 9000 N and a misalignment torque varying from 0 to 70 N.m. The bearing performances were greatly affected by the misalignment. The maximum pressure in the mid-plane decreased by 20 percent for the largest misalignment torque while the minimum film thickness was reduced by 80 percent. The misalignment caused more significant changes in bearing performance when the rotational speed or load was low. The hydrodynamic effects were then relatively small and the bearing offered less resistance to the misalignment.


1981 ◽  
Vol 103 (2) ◽  
pp. 284-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. A. Koye ◽  
W. O. Winer

Fifty-seven measurements of the minimum lubricant film thickness separating the elastohydrodynamically lubricated point contact of a steel crowned roller and a flat sapphire disk were made by an optical interferometry technique. The data collected were used to evaluate the Hamrock and Dowson minimum EHD film thickness model over a practical range of contact ellipticity ratio where the major axis of the contact ellipse is aligned both parallel and perpendicular to the direction of motion. A statistical analysis of the measured film thickness data showed that the experimental data averaged 30 percent greater film thickness than the Hamrock and Dowson model predicts.


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