A numerical study on the impact of lubricant rheology and surface topography on heavily loaded non-conformal contacts

Deepak K. Prajapati, Dilshad Ahmad, Jitendra K. Katiyar, Chander Prakash, Rafic M. Ajaj

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    4 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    The increasing requirement of high-power density (power throughput/ weight) in modern day machines lead to thin film lubrication condition in various machine components (rolling element bearings, gears, cams, etc,) due to severe loading conditions. Surface roughness features and lubricant rheology plays a vital role in thin film lubrication, and significantly affects the lubrication performance and lifetime of machine components. The present work demonstrates surface topography and lubricant rheology effects on the traction coefficient for heavily loaded non-conformal contacts. The load-sharing concept considering elastic-plastic deformation of asperities, and Carreau shear-thinning rheological model is employed to describe the dry rough contacts and non-Newtonian behavior of lubricant. An influence of surface topography parameters such as roughness, skewness, kurtosis, and pattern ratio on the traction coefficient is discussed. From results, it is found that among different surface topographies, negatively skewed surfaces having isotropic surface pattern exhibit minimum traction coefficient. The load share function and the critical rolling speed are determined for various surface topographies which provides further insights into the surface topography effect on traction coefficient. The findings of present study are noteworthy as they provide a theoretical basis for an assessment of the lubrication performance of heavily loaded non-conformal contacts.

    Original languageBritish English
    Article number035006
    JournalSurface Topography: Metrology and Properties
    Volume11
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Sep 2023

    Keywords

    • mixed lubrication regime
    • non-Newtonian lubricant rheology
    • surface topography
    • traction coefficient

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'A numerical study on the impact of lubricant rheology and surface topography on heavily loaded non-conformal contacts'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this