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 pinned or free-floating rigid plate on a thin viscous film

Abstract: A pinned or free-floating rigid plate lying on the free surface of a thin film of viscous fluid, which itself lies on top of a horizontal substrate that is moving to the right at a constant speed is considered. The focus of the present work is to describe how the competing effects of the speed of the substrate, surface tension, viscosity, and, in the case of a pinned plate, the prescribed pressure in the reservoir of fluid at its upstream end, determine the possible equilibrium positions of the plate, the free surface, and the flow within the film. The present problems are of interest both in their own right as paradigms for a range of fluid–structure interaction problems in which viscosity and surface tension both play an important role, and as a first step towards the study of elastic effects.

MHD mixed convection stagnation point flow of a viscous fluid over a lubricated vertical surface

Abstract: Purpose An attempt is made to study magnetohydrodynamic viscous fluid impinging orthogonally toward a stagnation point on a vertical surface lubricated with power law fluid. It has been assumed that the surface temperature varies linearly with the distance from the stagnation point. The problem is governed by system of partial differential equations for both the base fluid and the lubricant. The continuity of velocity and shear stress is assumed at the interface layer between the base fluid and the lubricant. Dimensionless variables are introduced to transform original problem into ordinary differential equations. An implicit finite-difference scheme known as the Keller-Box method is implemented to obtain the numerical solutions. The influence of various important parameters is presented in the form of graphs and tables. The limiting cases for full and no-slip conditions are deduced from the present solutions. A comparison of the present results with the existing results in the special case validates the obtained numerical solutions. The purpose of this study is to see the behaviour of flow characteristics in the presence of lubrication. Design/methodology/approach The authors’ problem is governed by system of partial differential equations for both the base fluid and the lubricant. Dimensionless variables are introduced to transform original problem into ordinary differential equations. The obtained ordinary differential equation along with boundary conditions are highly nonlinear and coupled. An implicit finite-difference scheme known as the Keller-Box method is implemented to obtain the numerical solutions. Findings Some findings of this study are that the lubricant increases the velocity of the base fluid inside the boundary layer. In the case of full slip, the effects of viscosity are suppressed by the lubricant. The temperature of the base fluid decreases by increase in lubrication on the surface. By increasing the slip on the surface, the skin friction decreases and local Nusselt number increases, but the rate of increase or decrease is less in magnitude for the case of opposing flow. The similarity solutions only exist for n = 1/2. A non-similar solution is obtained for the other values of the power-law index n. Originality/value The study of flow phenomenon over a lubricated surface has important applications in machinery components such as fluid bearings and mechanical seals. Coating is another major application of lubrication including the preparation of thin films, printing, painting, etc. The authors hope that the current study will provide the roadmap for the future studies in this direction.

Analysis of oil-lubricated herringbone grooved journal bearing with trapezoidal cross-section, using a spectral finite difference method

Abstract: A modified Reynolds equation for an oil-lubricated journal bearing is derived, including curvature effect under a lubrication theory, and the curvature effect on characteristics of the journal bearing is discussed. In addition, in case of a herringbone-grooved journal bearing with trapezoidal cross-sections, the modified Reynolds equation is solved, using a spectral finite difference method to get characteristics such as variation of load capacity and attitude angle for trapezoidal angles of from 1.8 through 7.2 degrees.

On Squeeze Film Damping in Microsystems

Abstract: Classical hydrodynamic lubrication theory has been one of the most successful and widely used theories in all of engineering and applied science. This theory predicts that the force resisting the squeezing of a fluid between two parallel plates is inversely proportional to the cube of the fluid thickness. However, recent reports on liquid squeeze film damping in microsystems appear to indicate that experimentally measured damping force is proportional to the inverse of the fluid thickness to the first power—a large fundamental discrepancy from classical theory. This paper investigates potential limitations of lubrication theory in microsystems by theoretical and computational methods. The governing equations for a Newtonian incompressible fluid are solved subject to two-dimensional, parallel surface squeezing by an open-source computational fluid dynamics program called parallel hierarchic adaptive stabilized transient analysis (PHASTA), and by a classical similarity solution technique. At low convective Reynolds numbers, the damping force is determined as a function of the ratio of a reference film thickness H to a reference direction B along the film. Good agreement with classical lubrication theory is found for aspect ratios H/B as high as 1 despite the fact that lubrication theory requires that this ratio be "small. " A similarity analysis shows that when instantaneous convective Reynolds number is of order 10―100 (a range present in experiment), calculated damping deviates significantly from lubrication theory. This suggests that nonlinearity associated with high Reynolds numbers could explain the experimentally observed discrepancy in damping force. Dynamic analysis of beams undergoing small vibrations in the presence of a liquid medium further supports this finding.