A Computer Thermal Model

of Mixed Lubrication in Point

Contacts
Wen-Zhong Wang
e-mail: wangwz@post.pim.tsinghua.edu.cn This paper presents a transient thermal model for mixed lubrication problems in point
contacts. The model deterministically calculates pressure and surface temperature by
Yu-Chuan Liu simultaneously solving a system of equations that govern the lubrication, contact and
thermal behaviors of a point contact interface. The pressure distribution on the entire
Hui Wang computation domain is obtained through solving a unified Reynolds equation system
without identifying hydrodynamic or asperity contact regions. The point heat source in-
Yuan-Zhong Hu tegration method is applied to determine the temperature distributions on contact sur-
faces. The interactions between pressure and temperature are considered through incor-
The State Key Laboratory of Tribology, porating viscosity-temperature and density-temperature relations in the Reynolds
Tsinghua University, equation, then solving the equation system iteratively. With the successful implementation
100084 Beijing, Peoples Republic of China of an FFT-based algorithm (DC-FFT) for calculation of surface deformation and tem-
perature rise, the numerical analysis of lubricated contact problems, which used to in-
volve a great deal of computation, can be performed in acceptable time. The model
enables us to simulate various lubrication conditions, from full film elastohydrodynamic
lubrication (EHL) to boundary lubrication, for a better understanding of the effect of
surface roughness. Numerical examples are analyzed and the results show that the present
model can be used to predict pressure and surface temperature over a wide range of
lubrication conditions, and that the solution methods are computationally efficient and
robust. DOI: 10.1115/1.1631012

Introduction late the transient behavior of contacting asperities in mixed lubri-

The trend of technology development demands machine com-
ponents, such as gears and rolling bearings, be designed for more
critical conditions, i.e., heavier loads and higher temperatures.
Due to the existence of surface roughness, the components under
such conditions are likely to operate in the region of partial EHL
or mixed lubrication where exist significant asperity contacts, lo-
cal pressure spikes and flash temperatures. These local variables
are believed to have an important connection with friction-wear
behaviors of the components; however, they are difficult to be
measured experimentally 1. A comprehensive numerical model
for mixed lubrication is thus desirable. However, it wasnt until
recently that the numerical simulations of local pressure and tem-
perature distributions over contacting asperities became feasible,
due to the rapid development of computational capability 25.
Modeling mixed lubrication problem is a complex and chal-
lenging task, to which great efforts have been devoted during past
2030 years. A conventional way to analyze mixed lubrication is
to calculate the hydrodynamic and contact pressures separately,
and then simply superimpose the obtained pressures to balance the
applied load 6. Basically, there are two types of models, stochas-
tic or deterministic models. The stochastic models use selected
statistic parameters to represent random characteristics of surface
roughness and concern the averaged or statistic behavior of the
contact and lubrication. For instance, the average flow model 7
combined with a stochastic model of asperity contact 8 has been
one of widely accepted models for mixed lubrication. A typical
application of the model was given by Zhu et al. 6. A fundamen-
tal limitation of these stochastic models is its inability to provide
detailed information about local pressure peaks, local film thick-
ness fluctuations, and asperity deformation, which are believed to
govern the mechanism of lubrication, friction, and surface failure.
The deterministic model is another popular approach to simu-
Contributed by the Tribology Division for publication in the ASME JOURNAL OF
TRIBOLOGY. Manuscript received by the Tribology Division February 18, 2002 re-
vised manuscript received May 5, 2003. Associate Editor: J. L. Streator.
cation. It uses digitized surface geometric profile as an input to a
numerical simulation model. Chang 9 presented a partial elasto-
hydrodynamic lubrication model of line contacts that simulated
the basic process of asperity interactions and solid-to-solid con-
tacts. Hue et al. 10 also presented an analysis of mixed lubrica-
tion where the lubricant pressure was calculated from Reynolds
equations while the asperity contact pressure was obtained from
Hertzian formula; Zhai et al. 11 approximated EHL pressure by
a modified Hertzian pressure distribution and modeled each asper-
ity as a mini-Hertzian contact. In 1999, Jiang et al. 12 presented
a model that successfully solved hydrodynamic and asperity con-
tact pressure simultaneously. They searched the actual contact do-
main by means of a trial-and-error method. The Multi-grid
method and FFT technique were applied to speed up the calcula-
tion of pressure and surface elastic deformation, but the conver-
gent solutions presented were limited only to relatively large film
thickness ratio which is defined as the ratio of mean film thickness
and the root mean square roughness. Recently, Hu and Zhu 2,3
presented an isothermal mixed lubrication model in which the
pressure was calculated from a unified Reynolds equation system
without having to know the information of the border between the
hydrodynamic and asperity contact areas. It allows us to study
lubricated concentrated contacts for the entire regimes of lubrica-
tion, from full EHL to boundary lubrication, and does not encoun-
ter much convergence problem even though a significant amount
of asperity contacts may be involved in the problems analyzed.
Most models mentioned above were developed under the as-
sumption of isothermal conditions of contact. However, frictional
heating is an important factor that has to be taken into account in
order to develop a more comprehensive model for mixed lubrica-
tion. The deterministic thermal modeling of mixed lubrication was
pioneered by Lai and Cheng 13 in 1984, and further developed
by Qiu and Cheng 4 more recently. Using the pressure distribu-
tion obtained from isothermal computations under the same con-
ditions, they calculated transient temperature distribution for
mixed lubrication in point contacts through numerical integration

162 Vol. 126, JANUARY 2004 Copyright 2004 by ASME Transactions of the ASME
of moving point heat source 14. Zhai and Chang 15,16 devel- h x,y,t h 0 t h s x,y 1 x,y,t 2 x,y,t V x,y,t
oped another transient thermal model for the mixed lubrication in (3)
line contacts. The model deterministically calculated temperatures
by solving energy equations for both solid and fluid subject to where V(x,y,t) is the surface deformation calculated through the
thermal interfacial conditions. They made use of a coordinate formula given by 20

transformation to map the time-varying solid and film regions into
three rectangular calculation regions. Recently, Zhao et al. 17,18 2 P l , P c ,
V x,y,t dd (4)
presented an analysis of a start-up process in EHL circular con- E l s x 2 y 2
tacts, which involved the modeling of mixed contact and surface
temperature. Their results, however, exhibit suspicious pressure Load Balance Equation

spikes at the boundaries between lubrication and solid contact
regions.
W t P x,y,t dxdy (5)
Most of the abovementioned models either calculated pressure
under isothermal condition or determined temperature from
known pressure, in which the interactions between temperature Temperature Rise Equation. The temperature rises on two
and other variables were ignored. It is therefore desirable to de- surfaces at the position (x,y) from time 0 to t can be expressed in
velop a numerical model that takes the interactions between pres- nondimensional forms 14,21,

sure and temperature in consideration. The absence of such a
t
model is mainly due to the difficulties in handling numerical con-
vergence problem and excessive computation efforts. The recent T 1 x,y, t 1 f x ,y , t
0
significant developments of the unified modeling in mixed lubri-
cation by Hu and Zhu 2,3 and the discrete convolution and Fast
q x ,y , t dx dy dt
Fourier Transform DC-FFT for surface deformation and tem-
perature rise by Liu and Wang 5,19 suggest that it may be the t t 3/2

time to present a more realistic model for transient thermal analy-
sis of mixed lubrication. In this paper, the emphasis is laid on the xx U 1 t t 2 y y 2
thermal actions in mixed lubrication. The isothermal model for exp
mixed lubrication in point contacts proposed by Hu and Zhu 2 t t
has been extended into a transient thermal model with the DC- (6)
FFT being employed to speed up the calculation of surface defor-

mation and temperature rise. Pressure and temperature distribu-
tions are solved iteratively in a single loop.
t q x ,y , t dx dy dt
T 2 x,y, t f x ,y , t
0 t t 3/2

Governing Equations
In mixed lubrication, the nominal contact zone, , may be di-
vided into two different types of areas: the lubricated area, l ,
exp xx U 2 t t 2 y y 2
t t

where two surfaces are separated by a lubricant film and the as- (7)
perity contact area, s , where two surfaces are in direct contact. The heat flux density generated by friction is
The applied load is shared by the hydrodynamic film and the
asperity contact. Two assumptions have been made in the present q pU s (8)
analysis: 1 The thermal-elastic deformation is neglected; and 2
A heavy loading condition is considered, under which most as- The friction coefficient, , has different values in different friction
perities are in contact and therefore, the convectional heat transfer conditions of hydrodynamic lubrication, asperity contact and
is neglected. metal adhesion. The temperature variation across lubricant film
proposed by Lai 13 is used to determine the heat partition coef-
Pressure Control Equation. In the hydrodynamic regions, ficient f (x ,y , t ). Assume all the frictional heating in the lubri-
the pressure, P l , is governed by the Reynolds equation cant film is concentrated in the middle layer, from where the tem-


x 12 *
h3
Pl
x



y 12 *
h3
Pl
y
U
x

h h
t
perature varies linearly across the oil film with different gradients
proportional to the heat flux. The nondimensional forms for tem-
perature read
(1)
The contact pressure, P c , can be obtained by solving a reduced T x,y, t T 1 x,y, t /h x,y S 1 1 f x,y, t q x,y, t
Reynolds equation 2 (9.1)
h h T x,y, t T 2 x,y, t /h x,y S 1 f x,y, t q x,y, t (9.2)
U 0 when h0 (2)
x t
where T is the nondimensional temperature of lubricant film in the
More discussions about this equation are left to the next sec- middle layer.
tion. Eliminating T from equations 9.1 and 9.2, yields
In solving Eq. 1, the hydrodynamic pressure, P l , should sat-
isfy the following boundary and cavitations conditions: T 2b T 2 x,y, t T 1b T 1 x,y, t
P l X 0 ,Y P l X e ,Y P l X,Y 0 P l X,Y e 0 S 1 12 f x,y, t h x,y q x,y, t (9.3)
The conditions of pressure continuity, P l P c , at the borders of
lubrication and asperity contact regions will be satisfied automati- Equation 9.3 establishes the relationship between the tempera-
cally in computation. tures of two surfaces. When h(x,y)0, namely, contacts occur at
position (x,y), Eq. 9.3 is reduced to
Gap Equation. The gap between two surfaces should be cal-
culated by a geometric equation, T 2b T 2 x,y, t T 1b T 1 x,y, t 0 (9.4)

Journal of Tribology JANUARY 2004, Vol. 126 163

This means that the temperatures at two surfaces in contact are
equal. Finally, the heat partition coefficient f (x ,y , t ) can be
determined by Eq. 9.34.
Lubricant Properties. An effective viscosity * has been
introduced in the Reynolds equation to describe the non-
Newtonian lubricant properties. Assuming that the variation of
viscosity across the film thickness can be ignored, one may cal-
culate the effective viscosity by the use of following rheology
model that considers a possible shear-thinning effect 22

*
1

1 0
1
Sinh
1
0 (10)

where 0 is a reference shear stress whose value has been given as

0 18.0 MPa in this paper for a typical mineral oil. 1 denotes
the shear stress acting on the lower surface, and is the limiting
viscosity at low shear rate, which is determined by the Roelands
law

0 exp ln 0 9.67 15.1109 P l z

T138
T 0 138 s 0
1 (11)

where 0 is the viscosity at ambient pressure, T 0 is ambience

temperature, s 0 (T 0 138)/(ln 09.67), 0.04 and z
/5.1109 (ln 09.67).
The density of the lubricant is given by
A Pl
1 D TT 0
0 1B P l
where 0 is the ambience density. For a mineral oil, constants A,
B, and D are A0.6109 m2 /N, B1.7109 m2 /N, and D
0.0007 K1 .
In Eqs. 11 and 12, T refers the temperature in the middle
layer of lubricant film. Note that the viscosity and density are the
functions of pressure and temperature, through which the interac-
tions between pressure and temperature are presented.
Numerical Approach
1 Solving for Fluid Pressure and Asperity Contact Pres-
sure. Based on the belief that transition from EHL to boundary
lubrication should be a smooth process, the EHL pressure, calcu-
lated under the condition of h0, is expected to be the same as
that from solution of elastic contact. As the film thickness ap-
proaches zero, the Reynolds equation reduces into the form of Eq.
2 by eliminating the left side terms in Eq. 1 due to the vanish-
ing pressure flow. Because Eq. 2 is a special case of the Rey-
nolds equation, the pressure over the entire computation domain
can be calculated in a unified equation system, which enables a
fast and robust computation algorithm. The success of the ap-
proach has been proved constantly by computational practices.
2 DC-FFT Approach Applied to Surface Deformation and
Temperature Rise. The calculation of surface deformation used
to be carried out by constructing a so-called flexibility matrix of
influence coefficients. The pressure within every element can be
approximated by means of certain interpolations of the nodal pres-
sures. Therefore, the deformation at every nodal may be expressed
as a linear combination of the nodal pressures
M 1 N1
V x i ,y j k l0
K x i x k ,y i y l p x k ,y l
It can be found by checking carefully the calculation process
that Eq. 13 is in fact a discrete two-dimensional linear convolu-
tion. In order to use the FFT technique in the calculation of sur-
face deformation, the linear convolution in Eq. 13 has to be
Fig. 1 The flowchart of the calculation
converted to cyclic convolution because the convolution theorem
is only true for the latter. This, as addressed by Liu et al. 19,
(12)
requires a pretreatment for the influence coefficient matrix K and
pressure matrix p so that the convolution theorem can be applied
properly. The pretreatment is performed as follows: 1 extend the
dimensions of p by adding an appropriate number of zeros; and
2 calculate the influence coefficients in the region corresponding
to the extended dimension of matrix p, and then circulate or wrap-
around the matrix K. The technique has been proved able to cal-
culate the deformation with high accuracy and efficiency. More
details of the DC-FFT approach have been discussed elsewhere
19.
The calculations of temperature rise involve a three-
dimensional linear convolution so that the similar technique can
also be utilized to speed up the computation 5. However, when
applying DC-FFT to the calculation of temperature rise, the influ-
ence coefficients has to be reversed because of the asymmetry of
coefficient matrix in sliding direction 23. Figure 1 shows the
flowchart of the calculation.
Results and Discussion
The present model can handle mixed lubrication problems over
a wide range of work conditions, including EHL and boundary
lubrication, which are considered as the limit cases of mixed lu-
brication at large and small film thickness-to-roughness ratios. For
all the cases below, the computation domain is fixed as 1.9
X1.1, 1.5Y 1.5. The computational grid covering the
domain consists of 129129 nodes equally spaced. The initial
values are taken from the solution of the corresponding cases in
smooth contacts under the same conditions. The commonly used
parameters in the computation are listed in Table 1.
Validation. Three numerical cases are presented in this sec-
tion to validate the model and algorithm. Fig. 2 shows a compari-
son of pressure distributions for two smooth surfaces in simple
(13) sliding condition. Due to very low velocity, U0.001 mm/s,
boundary lubrication dominates over the entire nominal contact
area and hydrodynamic effects vanish. The solution obtained from
the unified Reynolds equation approach is very much close to that
from Hertz theory. Figure 3 compares the maximum temperature
rise with the results in existing literature Qiu and Cheng 4, Tian

164 Vol. 126, JANUARY 2004 Transactions of the ASME

 Table 1 Computational parameters A Single Asperity Moving Through the Hertz Contact Re-
gion. In order to investigate the thermal effects in mixed lubri-
W N 800 0.3
cation, the first case to be presented is a semispherical asperity
(GPa1 ) 18.2 c J/kgk 460
0 (Pas) 0.096 K s w/mk 48 attached to the upper surface passes through the contact zone un-
0 kg/m3 7850 K f w/mk 0.131 der different slide-to-roll ratio. Its geometric shape is determined
E (GPa) 219.78 f , s , a 0.06, 0.1, 0.4 by 14 and showed in Fig. 5a:
R x , R y mm 19.05 T 1b , T 2b K 303
P h (GPa) 1.711 T cr K 503

a mm 0.4725
Aa
R s2 xx a 2 y 2
x,y,t Rs (14)
and Kennedy 24, Francis 25, Blok 26, and Gao et al. 27. 0 when xx a 2
y R s
2

The computations were performed for a point contact with a

smooth sphere moving over a stationary plane under the maxi-
mum contact pressure of 1.45 GPa . It shows a good agreement
between present results and those in the references, especially that
of Francis 25. Figure 4 gives comparisons of pressure distribu-
tion and film thickness obtained from thermal and isothermal so-
lutions, for smooth EHL in point contacts. Two important features
of TEHL in heavy loading conditions can be identified, that is,
thinner film thickness and a shift of pressure spike towards up-
stream side. The results closely match with well-known experi-
ment observations and previous studies.
Fig. 2 Smooth surfaces under simple sliding condition
U 0.001 mms
Fig. 3 Comparison of maximum temperature rise with avail-
able results
Fig. 4 Smooth EHL solution, S 1.5, U 1200 mms,
W 800 N
where
Aa asperity height: A a 1.0 m
Rs radius of the spherical asperity: R s 0.1a
xa x s U 1 t
xs is the position at t0
Although the original asperity height, 1.0 m, is much greater
than the average gap, the convergent solutions are obtained from
present thermal model without much computational difficulty. The
pressure distributions, gap profiles and the temperature distribu-
tions are shown in Fig. 5b, c, and d for three chosen asperity
positions, that is, the inlet, center and outlet of Hertzian contact
zone. The isothermal solutions in corresponding conditions are
plotted in Fig. 5, too.
Figure 5 shows that the local temperature near the contacting
asperity is very high, which is resulted from larger friction coef-
ficient in real contact area. Besides, it can be seen that temperature
rise looks a little higher in the downstream side of asperity, which
is believed due to the effect of the history of contacts and heat
accumulation. The maximum temperature rise on the surface with
smaller velocity is higher, in comparison with that on the fast
moving surface. The reason is that the sliding velocity of heat
source relative to the slow moving surface is lower so that the
significant heat accumulation may lead to higher temperature rise.
When the effect of the slide-to-roll ratio is concerned, the transient
temperature over the asperity rises rapidly with the increasing
slide-to-roll ratio. This is simply due to the fact that the heat
generated by friction is proportional to the relative sliding veloc-
ity. A larger slide-to-roll ratio implies a bigger sliding velocity
between two surfaces and so will result in higher temperature rise.
Furthermore, the present results are in good agreement with those
presented by Zhai and Chang 16 for a thermal mixed lubrication
problem in line contacts, except a minor difference that slightly
higher temperature rise was obtained in the present study. It is
mainly due to the assumption that all heat enters the contacting
bodies and the convective heat has been neglected.
In comparison with isothermal solutions, it can be found that
the thermal actions have less influence upon the pressure distribu-
tion and film shape, especially at low or moderate slide-to-roll
ratio, which is similar to what occurred in thermal EHL. Chang
28 also concluded that asperity pressures and temperatures are
insensitive to the fluid pressure distribution in mixed lubrication
while temperature will have no way to influence the contact pres-
sure if the thermal-elastic deformation is neglected. With the rela-
tive sliding speed increasing, however, Fig. 5 shows thermal ef-
fects on the pressure grow stronger, attributed to the decrease of
global film thickness and larger elastic deformation.
Sinusoidal Surface. In the following, solutions on sinusoidal
wavy surfaces are concerned, which will provide a further dem-
onstration of capabilities of the present model and show the ther-
mal actions in the multi-asperity contacts. In the first case, a small
patch of sinusoidal roughness is superposed on the otherwise
smooth upper surface and passes through the circular contact zone
in different sliding speeds. The lower surface is assumed smooth.
Its geometric shape is determined by 15 and showed in Fig. 6a.

Journal of Tribology JANUARY 2004, Vol. 126 165

 Fig. 5 pressure distribution and temperature rise at y 0 for a single asperity moving through the circular
contact conjunction with U 1200 mms. In pressure profiles, solid line is for thermal solution and dash line
for isothermal solution. On temperature curves, the open circles correspond to the temperature rises on
upper surfaces in contact and open squares correspond to that on lower surface while the dash lines
indicate the solutions from smooth EHL contacts: a the geometry solved; b S 0.5; c S 1.0; and d
S 1.5.

x,y,t A cos x
0

2 xx d
" cos
2y
y
xx d 0.75a and

otherwise
y 0.75a
(15)

166 Vol. 126, JANUARY 2004 Transactions of the ASME

 Fig. 6 pressure distribution and temperature rise at y 0 for a patch of sinusoidal roughness
moving through the circular contact zone with U 625 mms. In pressure profiles, solid line is for
thermal solution and dash line for isothermal solution. On temperature curves, the open circles
correspond to the temperature rises on upper surfaces in contact and open squares correspond to
that on lower surface while the dash lines indicate the solutions from corresponding smooth EHL
contacts: a the geometry solved; b S 0.6; and c S 1.6.

Journal of Tribology JANUARY 2004, Vol. 126 167

 Fig. 7 Sinusoidal surface U 625 mms Load800 N: a S 0.6; and b S 2.0.

where A denotes the amplitude of the sinusoidal wave, x and y ture, metal-to-metal adhesions may occur, which usually result in
stand for its wavelengths in the x and y directions, and x d x s component failure. Figure 8 shows the three-dimensional display
u 1 t gives the phase of the sinusoidal wave. In all following of pressure and temperature distributions for this case.
examples, amplitude is fixed as A0.4 m and x y 0.25a.
Figure 6b and c show the pressure distributions, gap shapes Conclusion
and temperature rises when the patch of sinusoidal roughness goes
This study presents a transient thermal model for mixed lubri-
to the inlet and outlet of contact zone under different slide-to-roll
cation in point contacts. The model combines a unified Reynolds
ratios. We can see that this type of roughness results in very sharp
equation system with the surface temperature equations to obtain
pressure fluctuations but quite mild fluctuations in temperature
the pressure and temperature distributions. The interactions be-
rises. The relatively lower temperature rise in this example is be-
tween pressure and temperature can be examined given the vis-
cause the sinusoidal roughness at the given sliding speed does not
cosity and density as a function of pressure and temperature. The
create significant asperity contacts. It is shows again in Fig. 6b
computer programs developed in the present study utilize the dis-
that the thermal actions have less influence on the pressure distri-
crete convolution and FFT DC-FFT algorithm to speed up the
bution at low or moderate slide-to-roll ratio. With the increase of
computations of surface deformation and temperature rise. Nu-
slide-to-roll ratio, however, the temperature grows higher and the
merical examples verify the model and show its capabilities in
thermal effects on the lubrication pressure become more visible,
studying thermal actions in mixed lubrication.
especially near the outlet of contact zone, as can be seen in Fig.
The results show that the asperity contacts and sliding may
6c. This may be related to the local expansion of lubricant at
cause very high local temperature rises. On the other hand, the
higher local temperature rise.
effect of temperature rise on pressure distribution is insignificant
In the second case, the pressure and temperature distributions
at low or moderate slide-to-roll ratio. However, as the increase of
are to be calculated under the same conditions, but with the upper
slide-to-roll ratio, higher local temperature rise may cause lubri-
surface covered completely by the same sinusoidal roughness. In
cant expansion in the pocket formed by remaining roughness, and
comparison with the results of single asperity in Fig. 5, the pres-
result in the increase of lubrication pressure.
sure fluctuations and global temperature rises in this example are
The present model makes it possible to simulate lubrication and
much higher because the multiple asperity contacts generate much
contact behavior under more realistic conditions, for different
more frictional heat and the significant cross-heating activities be-
types of surfaces and at various slide-to-roll ratios. It is expected
tween asperities. As for the thermal effects on pressure distribu-
to be a useful tool for machine design. The Computation experi-
tion, similar phenomenon appears that temperature hardly influ-
ence indicates that the present model not only can predict pressure
ences upon the pressure under low or moderate sliding speeds, but
and surface temperature over a wide range of lubrication condi-
the thermal action may cause an increase in lubrication pressure
tions, but also provides a powerful numerical solver, which is
near the outlet of contact zone at larger slide-to-roll ratios, as can
computationally efficient and robust.
be observed in Fig. 7b. The main reason for the increase of
pressure may be that higher local temperature results in an expan-
sion of the lubricant retained in the pocket formed by still existing Acknowledgments
roughness. A comparison of the results in Fig. 7a and b shows The authors would like to express their appreciation for the
a significant temperature rise in the higher slide-to-roll ratio case, continuous supports from Eaton Corporation, USA.
where the sinusoidal wavy surface in contact appears smoother,
especially in the locations near the outlet region, as has been
Nomenclature
revealed in isothermal computations that asperities are more flat-
tened in sliding cases. The flattened asperities create more asperity a Hertzian contact radius, mm
contacts, more frictional heats and higher temperature rises suc- A a amplitude of single asperity, m
cessively. Once the local temperature exceeds a critical tempera- A amplitude of sinusoidal wave, m

168 Vol. 126, JANUARY 2004 Transactions of the ASME

 Fig. 8 Three-dimensional displays of pressure and temperature for the case a in Fig. 7.
E * Effective Youngs modulus, P a
h, h oil film thickness unit: mm and its
dimensionless parameter, hh/a
h s (x,y) function for original geometry of con-
tacting bodies.
c specific heat of solid, J/kgk
f heat partition coefficient
K s , K f thermal conductivities of solid and
fluid, w/mk
p, p Pressure unit: Pa) and its dimension-
less parameter, pp/p h
p h maximum Hertzian pressure, P a
q, q heat flux density W/m2 or N/ms and
its dimensionless parameter
R x , R y effective radius in x-z and y-z plane
respectively, mm
S (u 1 u 2 )/U, slide-to-roll ratio
S 1 coefficient, 3/2K s /K f
t, t time and its dimensionless parameter,
t t4 /a 2
T, T 1 , T 2 nondimensional temperatures of film,
body 1 and body 2
T cr Critical temperature for adhesion, k
T 1b , T 2b , T 1b , T 2b bulk temperatures of body 1 and body
2 and the dimensionless forms, TT
3/2 c/(2p h )
T 1 , T 2 dimensionless temperatures rises of
body 1 and body 2
u 1 , u 2 , U 1 , U 2 velocities mm/s of body 1 and body
2 and the dimensionless forms
U dimensionless velocity, Ua/(4 )
U s , U s sliding velocitie mm/s and its dimen-
sionless parameter, U s U 1 U 2
U (u 1 u 2 )/2, rolling velocity, mm/s
x,y,x,y x,y coordinates and its dimensionless
parameters, xx/ ,yy/
pressure-viscosity exponent,
108 m2 /N
Poisson ratio
f , s , a friction coefficient for hydrodynamic
lubrication, asperity contact and metal
melting, respectively
solution domain
s area where two surfaces are in direct
contact
l area where two surfaces are separated
by the lubricant film
1 (x,y,t), 2 (x,y,t) the roughness amplitudes of surface 1
and 2, respectively
, * viscosity ( P a s) and effective viscos-
ity of lubricant
Journal of Tribology
0 , ambient density and density of lubri-
cant, kg/m2
x , y wavelength of sinusoidal waviness in
the x and y direction, respectively
1 , 2 , 3 relax factor for P, H 0 , and T, respec-
tively
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