A Boundary Element Procedure for the Solution of the Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication Problem of Rolling Line Contacts by a Newtonian Fluid

The contact characteristics of stiff cylinders lubricated by Newtonian liquids are investigated using hard elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) theory. Numerical modeling is formulated for the coupled set of generalized pressure and plane strain elasticity equations for a finite plane model and a circular representation of the junction under a pure hard rolling line contact using boundary element method. Also a numerical routine is developed to compute film thickness and pressure profiles, and the results are evaluated for a range of possible dimensionless parameters such as speed and load. The hydrodynamic equation is also transformed into a form of boundary integral equation, which is solved by Simpson s rule. The elasticity equation with boundary conditions was solved by constant and quadratic elements based on an iterative procedure by assuming an initial film thickness. The computed results are shown to be amenable to standard boundary element formulation of the EHL problem in the contact region, and show that speed and load have influential effects on the lubricating film shape.