Three-Dimensional Temperature Distribution in EHD Lubrication: Part II—Point Contact and Numerical Formulation

Abstract

A numerical study of Newtonian thermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHD) of rolling/sliding point contacts has been conducted. The two-dimensional Reynolds, elasticity and the three-dimensional energy equations were solved simultaneously to obtain the pressure, film thickness and temperature distribution within the lubricant film. The control volume approach was employed to discretize the differential equations and the multi-level multi-grid technique was used to simultaneously solve them. The discretized equations, as well as the nonorthogonal coordinate transformation used for the solution of the energy equation, are described. The pressure, film thickness and the temperature distributions, within the lubricant film at different loads, slip conditions and ellipticity parameters are presented.