Subsurface Stresses in Micro-EHL Line Contacts

Abstract

The circular non-Newtonian fluid model associated with a limiting shear strength and the system approach were used to calculate the pressure, surface shear stress, and film thickness profiles in an elastohydrodynamically lubricated conjunction under isothermal conditions. The calculated pressure and surface shear stress were used to evaluate the maximum shear stress and the von Mises equivalent stress distributions in the solids. The effect of the slide-roll ratio for smooth lubricated surfaces, the effect of a single moving irregularity located on one of the smooth lubricated surfaces, and the effect of the amplitude and wavelength of a stationary sinusoidal wavy surface on the pressure, surface shear stress, and film thickness profiles, and hence on the subsurface stress pattern in the solids, were studied.