A STUDY OF COMBINED EFFECTS OF SURFACE ROUGHNESS AND LUBRICANT RHEOLOGY ON THE HYDRODYNAMIC CONTACT BEHAVIOR USING THE HOMOGENIZED METHOD

摘要

The combined effects of surface roughness and lubricant rheology on the performance characteristics of a hydrodynamic inclined slider bearing are investigated by means of the homogenized method. The pad surface is rough and stationary while the lower surface is assumed to be smooth and moving. The V. K. Stokes couple stress fluid model is adopted to describe the rheological behavior of the lubricant flowing between the two surfaces. The numerical simulations are performed by considering three roughness patterns (transverse, longitudinal and anisotropic), and various values of the couple stress parameter. It is found that the homogenization method is rigorous and efficient for the three roughness patterns considered. It is also found that the combined effects of the surface roughness as well as the couple stress due to the presence of polymer additives on the hydrodynamic performance characteristics such as load carrying capacity, friction factor are significant.