Lubrication theory

About: Lubrication theory is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1713 publications have been published within this topic receiving 50261 citations. The topic is also known as: Fluid bearing.

A Multiscale Study on the Wall Slip Effect in a Ceramic–Steel Contact With Nanometer-Thick Lubricant Film by a Nano-to-Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication Approach

Abstract: A novel nano-to-elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) multiscale approach, developed to integrate molecular-scale phenomena into macroscopic lubrication models based on the continuum hypothesis, is applied to a lubricated contact problem with a ceramic–steel interface and a nanometric film thickness. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are used to quantify wall slip occurring under severe confinement. Its dependence on the sliding velocity, film thickness, pressure, and different wall materials is described through representative analytical laws. These are then coupled to a modified Reynolds equation, where a no-slip condition applies to the ceramic surface and slip occurring on the steel wall is described through a Navier-type boundary condition. The results of this nano-to-EHL approach can contradict the well-established lubrication theory for thin films. In fact, slip can occur over the whole contact length, leading to a significant modification of the lubricant flow and consequently of the film thickness. If both walls move at the same velocity, the flow is reduced at the contact inlet and the film thickness decreases. If the nonslipping wall entrains the fluid, this one is accelerated resulting in a larger mass flow; nevertheless, the surface separation is reduced as the lubricant flows even faster in the contact center. The opposite effect occurs if the slipping surface entrains the fluid, causing a lower mass flow but higher film thickness. Finally, friction is generally smaller compared to the classical no-slip case and becomes independent of the sliding velocity as total slip is approached.

Permeability and effective slip in confined flows transverse to wall slippage patterns

Abstract: The pressure-driven Stokes flow through a plane channel with arbitrary wall separation having a continuous pattern of sinusoidally varying slippage of arbitrary wavelength and amplitude on one/both walls is modelled semi-analytically. The patterning direction is transverse to the flow. In the special situations of thin and thick channels, respectively, the predictions of the model are found to be consistent with lubrication theory and results from the literature pertaining to free shear flow. For the same pattern-averaged slip length, the hydraulic permeability relative to a channel with no-slip walls increases as the pattern wave-number, amplitude, and channel size are decreased. Unlike discontinuous wall patterns of stick-slip zones studied elsewhere in the literature, the effective slip length of a sinusoidally patterned wall in a confined flow continues to scale with both channel size and the pattern-averaged slip length even in the limit of thin channel size to pattern wavelength ratio. As a consequence, for sufficiently small channel sizes, the permeability of a channel with sinusoidal wall slip patterns will always exceed that of an otherwise similar channel with discontinuous patterns on corresponding walls. For a channel with one no-slip wall and one patterned wall, the permeability relative to that of an unpatterned reference channel of same pattern-averaged slip length exhibits non-monotonic behaviour with channel size, with a minimum appearing at intermediate channel sizes. Approximate closed-form estimates for finding the location and size of this minimum are provided in the limit of large and small pattern wavelengths. For example, if the pattern wavelength is much larger than the channel thickness, exact results from lubrication theory indicate that a worst case permeability penalty relative to the reference channel of ∼23% arises when the average slip of the patterned wall is ∼2.7 times the channel size. The results from the current study should be applicable to microfluidic flows through channels with hydrophobized/super-hydrophobic surfaces.

Gravity-driven thin-film flow on a flexible substrate

Abstract: We study the flow of a thin liquid film along a flexible substrate. The flow is modelled using lubrication theory, assuming that gravity is the dominant driving force. The substrate is modelled as an elastic beam that deforms in two dimensions. Steady solutions are found using numerical and perturbation methods, and several different asymptotic regimes are identified. We obtain a complete characterization of how the length and stiffness of the beam and the imposed liquid flux determine the profile of the liquid film and the resulting beam deformation.

Numerical Analysis of a Journal Bearing With a Heterogeneous Slip/No-Slip Surface

Abstract: The no-slip boundary condition is part of the foundation of traditional lubrication theory. It states that fluid adjacent to a solid boundary has zero velocity relative to the solid surface. For most practical applications, the no-slip boundary condition is a good model for predicting fluid behavior. However, recent experimental research has found that for certain engineered surfaces the no-slip boundary condition is not valid. Measured velocity profiles show that slip occurs at the interface. In the present study, the effect of an engineered slip/no-slip surface on journal bearing performance is examined. A heterogeneous pattern, in which slip occurs in certain regions and is absent in others, is applied to the bearing surface. Fluid slip is assumed to occur according to the Navier relation. Analysis is performed numerically using a mass conserving algorithm for the solution of the Reynolds equation. Load carrying capacity and friction force are evaluated. It is found that judicious application of slip to a journal bearing’s surface can lead to improved bearing performance.Copyright © 2005 by ASME