The objective of this paper is to investigate the flow in a lubricant film on the surface roughness scale and to compare the numerical solutions obtained by two different solution approaches. This is accomplished firstly by the CFD-approach (computational fluid dynamic approach) where the momentum and continuity equations are solved separately, and secondly the Reynolds equation approach, which is a combination and a simplification of the above equations. The rheology is assumed to be both Newtonian and non-Newtonian. An Eyring model is used in the non-Newtonian case. The result shows that discrepancies between the two approaches may occur, primarily due to a singularity which appears in the momentum equations when the stresses in the lubricant attain magnitudes that are common in EHL. This singularity is not represented by the Reynolds equation. If, however, the rheology is shifted to a non-Newtonian Eyring model the deviations between the two solution approaches is removed or reduced. The second source of discrepancies between the two approaches is the film thickness to wavelength scale ω. It will be shown that the Reynolds equation is valid until this ratio is approximately O10−2.

Issue Section:
Research Papers
Keywords:
liquid films, lubrication, lubricants, film flow, surface roughness, internal stresses, rheology, computational fluid dynamics
Topics:
Approximation, Computational fluid dynamics, Lubricants, Momentum, Pressure, Rheology, Stress, Surface roughness, Viscosity, Film flow, Thin films, Modeling, Simulation, Film thickness, Wavelength
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