Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication of Circular Contacts at Impact Loading with Generalized Newtonian Lubricants

In this article, pure squeeze elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) motion of circular contacts with power law model lubricant is explored at impact loading. The coupled transient modified Reynolds, the elasticity deformation, and the ball motion equations are solved simultaneously, thus obtaining the transient pressure profiles, film shapes, normal squeeze velocities, and accelerations. The simulation results reveal that the greater the flow index (n), the earlier the pressure spike and the dimple form, while the maximum pressure and the film thickness increase, and the diameter of the dimple, the maximum value of the impact force, the rebounding velocity, and the acceleration decrease. Further, this analysis numerically demonstrates that the contact central pressure for a ball impacting and rebounding from a lubricated surface reached two peaks during the total impact period. As the flow index increases, the primary and the secondary peak increase, and the first and second peaks form earlier; as the total impact time decreases. Moreover, the phase shift between the time of the peak value of the squeeze acceleration and the zero value of the squeeze velocity increase with increasing flow index.