Elastohydrodynamic lubrication of circular contacts at pure squeeze motion with non-Newtonian lubricants

In this study a numerical method for general applications with non-Newtonian fluids is developed to investigate the pure squeeze motion in an isothermal elastohydrodynamic lubricated spherical conjunction under constant load conditions. The coupled transient modified Reynolds, the elasticity deformation, and the load equilibrium equations are solved simultaneously. Computer simulation is carried out to investigate the effects of flow rheology and operations on the relationship between the pressure and film thickness distributions. The simulation results reveal that the larger the flow index (n), the larger the film thickness and the smaller the maximum central pressure. This results in larger time needed to obtain maximum central pressure. In addition, the elastic deformation is more significant for the lower flow index. Therefore, the smaller the flow index becomes, the greater the difference between the hydrodynamic lubrication (HL) solution and elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) solution becomes.