On the Numerical Solution of the Dynamically Loaded Hydrodynamic Lubrication of the Point Contact Problem

Abstract

The transient analysis of hydrodynamic lubrication of a point-contact is presented. A body-fitted coordinate system is introduced to transform the physical domain to a rectangular computational domain, enabling the use of the Newton-Raphson method for determining pressures and locating the cavitation boundary, where the Reynolds boundary condition is specified. In order to obtain the transient solution, an explicit Euler method is used to effect a time march. The transient dynamics load is a sinusoidal function of time with frequency, fractional loading, and mean load as parameters. Results include the variation of the minimum film thickness and phase-lag with time as functions of excitation frequency. The results are compared with the analytic solution to the transient step bearing problem with the same dynamic loading function. The similarities of the results suggest an approximate model of the point minimum film thickness solution. Keywords: Hydrodynamic; Lubrication; Transient analysis; Dynamic; Point contact; Dynamic load; Damping; Periodic load.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 01, 1990
Accession Number
ADA219299

Entities

People

  • David E. Brewe
  • Joseph M. Prahl
  • Sang G. Lim

Organizations

  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Bearings
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Computational Science
  • Coordinate Systems
  • Curve Fitting
  • Differential Equations
  • Equations Of Motion
  • Fluid Dynamics
  • Fluid Mechanics
  • Geometry
  • Lubricants
  • Lubrication
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Mechanics
  • Numerical Analysis
  • Partial Differential Equations
  • Pressure Distribution

Fields of Study

  • Engineering

Readers

  • Control Systems Engineering.
  • Finite Element Method (FEM) for solving Partial Differential Equations (PDEs)
  • Tribology (the study of the boundary interaction between sliding surfaces, lubrication, wear and friction).