Effect of surface roughness on the hydrodynamic lubrication of porous step-slider bearings with couple stress fluids

This paper presents the theoretical study of the effect of surface roughness on the hydrodynamic lubrication of porous step-slider bearings. A more general form of surface roughness is mathematically modeled by a stochastic random variable with non-zero mean, variance and skewness. The generalized average Reynolds-type equation is derived for the rough porous step-slider bearing lubricated with Stokes couple stress fluid. The closed-form expressions for the mean load carrying capacity, frictional force and the coefficient of friction are obtained. The performance of the rough porous step-slider bearing is compared with a corresponding smooth porous step-slider bearing. The numerical computations of the results show that the negatively skewed surface roughness pattern increases the load carrying capacity and decreases the coefficient of friction whereas the adverse effects were found for the positively skewed surface roughness pattern.