Multiphysics and Multiscale Models of Tribology

A special issue of Lubricants (ISSN 2075-4442).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2018) | Viewed by 31397

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Division of Machine Elements, Luleå University of Technology, SE-971 87 Luleå, Sweden
Interests: multiscale and multiphysics modelling and simulation of flows in narrow interfaces; application of topology optimisation methodology in hydrodynamic lubrication; application of artificial neural networks; homogenization; lower dimensional models; friction on snow and ice

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue, “Multiphysics and Multiscale Models of Tribology”, in the open access journal Lubricants, is open for submissions presenting modelling and simulations involving the multiphysics and/or multiscale nature of tribological interfaces found in bearings, gears, seals, etc. While it encourages a broad spectrum of contribution in tribology, its core interest lies in issues concerning the development, verification and validation of the models and their numerical solution procedures. Papers of transdisciplinary nature presenting and connecting fundamental research with more applied are particularly welcome.

Papers devoted to the purely mathematical aspects without a discussion of the physical implications of the results or the consideration of specific examples are discouraged. Papers should not be limited merely to the description and recording of observations and should include an elaborate verification of the numerical solution procedure, validation against experimental findings or against already well-established approaches. They should, preferably, also contain theoretical or quantitative discussion of the results.

We are enthusiastically looking forward to receiving your submission.

Prof. Dr. Andreas Almqvist
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Elastohydrodynamic lubrication
  • Contact mechanics
  • Leakage/percolation
  • CFD
  • Fluid-structure interaction
  • Mechanical deformation
  • Thermal expansion
  • Roughness
  • Cavitation

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 2676 KiB  
Article
Effect of Shaft Surface Roughness on the Performance of Radial Lip Seals
by Emilia Kozuch, Petros Nomikos, Ramin Rahmani, Nick Morris and Homer Rahnejat
Lubricants 2018, 6(4), 99; https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants6040099 - 13 Nov 2018
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 6057
Abstract
Reduction of leakage from the shaft–radial lip seal conjunction is critical in ensuring enduring performance of entire lubrication system. This paper investigates leakage from three types of shaft surfaces, finished using different manufacturing processes. The measurement of surface topography is conducted in order [...] Read more.
Reduction of leakage from the shaft–radial lip seal conjunction is critical in ensuring enduring performance of entire lubrication system. This paper investigates leakage from three types of shaft surfaces, finished using different manufacturing processes. The measurement of surface topography is conducted in order to determine the pertinent roughness parameters which correspond to the observed sealing performance in real practical applications. It is found that the skewness of the surface topography correlates well with the anecdotal leakage failure rate. To quantify this association, a hydrodynamic model, accounting for shaft roughness in a deterministic manner is developed. The results from the numerical analyses confirm that the lubricant mass flow rate is reduced in the case of negatively skewed surface height distributions, when compared with the positively skewed profiles. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiphysics and Multiscale Models of Tribology)
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15 pages, 1094 KiB  
Article
Thermal Turbulent Flow in Leading Edge Grooved and Conventional Tilting Pad Journal Bearing Segments—A Comparative Study
by Philip Croné, Andreas Almqvist and Roland Larsson
Lubricants 2018, 6(4), 97; https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants6040097 - 2 Nov 2018
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4232
Abstract
A comparative study between a conventional- and leading edge grooved (LEG) tilting pad journal bearing (TPJB) segment is performed. The developed model uses the Shear Stress Transport (SST) turbulence model, coupled with the energy equation and a partial differential equation for the fluid [...] Read more.
A comparative study between a conventional- and leading edge grooved (LEG) tilting pad journal bearing (TPJB) segment is performed. The developed model uses the Shear Stress Transport (SST) turbulence model, coupled with the energy equation and a partial differential equation for the fluid domain mesh displacement to predict the thermal flow characteristics. Instead of using an effective boundary condition to determine the inlet temperature of the LEG pad and excluding the additional LEG portion, as is common practice, the whole geometry of the LEG is modeled. Several sizes of the LEG portion is investigated and it is shown to have quite a small influence on pressure, temperature, film thickness and turbulence intensity. Moreover, the results also show that the conventional pad gives rise to higher levels of turbulence in the mid plane compared to its LEG counterpart, while the latter has a marginally higher value of turbulence when the volume average value is computed. The maximum value of turbulence is however present in the conventional model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiphysics and Multiscale Models of Tribology)
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18 pages, 10206 KiB  
Article
On an Elastoplastic Sliding Model for a Coated Single Asperity
by Can Wang and Dik J. Schipper
Lubricants 2018, 6(4), 96; https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants6040096 - 1 Nov 2018
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3547
Abstract
In this study, a sliding friction model for coated single asperity contacts is proposed. A displacement-driven layered contact algorithm is firstly introduced and verified by the finite element method. Then, this algorithm is applied to simulate the contact between two semispherical asperities. The [...] Read more.
In this study, a sliding friction model for coated single asperity contacts is proposed. A displacement-driven layered contact algorithm is firstly introduced and verified by the finite element method. Then, this algorithm is applied to simulate the contact between two semispherical asperities. The full sliding contact process is discretized into a series of transient steps, and each of these steps are calculated by the displacement-driven contact algorithm. The effects of the interference depth and the properties of, respectively, the tribofilm (thickness, elastic modulus, and yield strength) and the nanocrystalline layer on the sliding coefficient of friction are investigated. The results suggest that when surface adhesion and asperity damage are ignored, the plastic deformation of the tribofilm is the main source of the sliding friction. Greater interference depth, tribofilm with greater thickness, higher elastic modulus or lower yield strength, and the presence of a nanocrystalline layer will lead to a higher coefficient of friction in single asperity sliding. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiphysics and Multiscale Models of Tribology)
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18 pages, 1382 KiB  
Article
An Enhanced Stochastic Two-Scale Model for Metal-to-Metal Seals
by Francesc Pérez-Ràfols and Andreas Almqvist
Lubricants 2018, 6(4), 87; https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants6040087 - 1 Oct 2018
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3213
Abstract
Leakage in static metal-to-metal seals is predominantly determined by the topography of the contacting surfaces. The topography consists of features that span the entire range from its carefully engineered geometry down to micro-sized surface asperities. The mesh density necessary to fully resolve all [...] Read more.
Leakage in static metal-to-metal seals is predominantly determined by the topography of the contacting surfaces. The topography consists of features that span the entire range from its carefully engineered geometry down to micro-sized surface asperities. The mesh density necessary to fully resolve all the features, in this large span of length scales, generates too many degrees of freedom for a direct numerical approach to be applicable. Some kind of sophistication, either incorporated in the mathematical model or in the numerical solution procedure or even a combination of both is therefore required. For instance, in a two-scale model, the geometrical features can be addressed in the global-scale model, while the features belonging to length scales smaller than a given cut-off value are addressed in the local-scale model. However, the classical two-scale approaches do not explicitly address the stochastic nature of the surfaces, and this has turned out to be a requirement in order to obtain quantitative predictions of leakage in metal-to-metal seals. In this work, we present a continued development of an already existing two-scale model, which incorporates a stochastic element. The novelty lies in the way we characterise the permeability at the local scale and how this is used to build a more efficient and useful approach. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiphysics and Multiscale Models of Tribology)
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17 pages, 3577 KiB  
Article
Contact-Patch-Size Distribution and Limits of Self-Affinity in Contacts between Randomly Rough Surfaces
by Martin H. Müser and Anle Wang
Lubricants 2018, 6(4), 85; https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants6040085 - 20 Sep 2018
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 5061
Abstract
True contact between solids with randomly rough surfaces tends to occur at a large number of microscopic contact patches. Thus far, two scaling regimes have been identified for the number density n ( A ) of contact-patch sizes A in elastic, non-adhesive, self-affine [...] Read more.
True contact between solids with randomly rough surfaces tends to occur at a large number of microscopic contact patches. Thus far, two scaling regimes have been identified for the number density n ( A ) of contact-patch sizes A in elastic, non-adhesive, self-affine contacts. At small A, n ( A ) is approximately constant, while n ( A ) decreases as a power law at large A. Using Green’s function molecular dynamics, we identify a characteristic (maximum) contact area A c above which a superexponential decay of n ( A ) becomes apparent if the contact pressure is below the pressure p cp at which contact percolates. We also find that A c increases with load relatively slowly far away from contact percolation. Results for A c can be estimated from the stress autocorrelation function G σ σ ( r ) with the following argument: the radius of characteristic contact patches, r c , cannot be so large that G σ σ ( r c ) is much less than p cp 2 . Our findings provide a possible mechanism for the breakdown of the proportionality between friction and wear with load at large contact pressures and/or for surfaces with a large roll-off wavelength. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiphysics and Multiscale Models of Tribology)
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12 pages, 3751 KiB  
Article
Multiscale Modeling Applied to the Hydrodynamic Lubrication of Rough Surfaces for Computation Time Reduction
by Noël Brunetière and Arthur Francisco
Lubricants 2018, 6(3), 83; https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants6030083 - 15 Sep 2018
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3954
Abstract
This paper presents a multiscale finite element method applied to the simulation of a lubricating film flowing between rough surfaces. The objective of this approach is to study flows between large rough surfaces needing very fine meshes while maintaining a reasonable computation time. [...] Read more.
This paper presents a multiscale finite element method applied to the simulation of a lubricating film flowing between rough surfaces. The objective of this approach is to study flows between large rough surfaces needing very fine meshes while maintaining a reasonable computation time. For this purpose, the domain is split into a number of subdomains (bottom-scale meshes) connected by a coarse mesh (top-scale). The pressure distribution at the top-scale is used as boundary conditions for the bottom-scale problems. This pressure is adjusted to ensure global mass flow balance between the contiguous subdomains. This multiscale method allows for a significant reduction of the number of operations as well as a satisfactory accuracy of the results if the top-scale mesh is properly fitted to the roughness lateral scale. Furthermore the present method is well-suited to parallel computation, leading to much more significant computation time reduction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiphysics and Multiscale Models of Tribology)
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25 pages, 3031 KiB  
Article
On the Two-Scale Modelling of Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication in Tilted-Pad Bearings
by Gregory De Boer and Andreas Almqvist
Lubricants 2018, 6(3), 78; https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants6030078 - 3 Sep 2018
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3997
Abstract
A two-scale method for modelling the Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication (EHL) of tilted-pad bearings is derived and a range of solutions are presented. The method is developed from previous publications and is based on the Heterogeneous Multiscale Methods (HMM). It facilitates, by means of homogenization, [...] Read more.
A two-scale method for modelling the Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication (EHL) of tilted-pad bearings is derived and a range of solutions are presented. The method is developed from previous publications and is based on the Heterogeneous Multiscale Methods (HMM). It facilitates, by means of homogenization, incorporating the effects of surface topography in the analysis of tilted-pad bearings. New to this article is the investigation of three-dimensional bearings, including the effects of both ideal and real surface topographies, micro-cavitation, and the metamodeling procedure used in coupling the problem scales. Solutions for smooth bearing surfaces, and under pure hydrodynamic operating conditions, obtained with the present two-scale EHL model, demonstrate equivalence to those obtained from well-established homogenization methods. Solutions obtained for elastohydrodynamic operating conditions, show a dependency of the solution to the pad thickness and load capacity of the bearing. More precisely, the response for the real surface topography was found to be stiffer in comparison to the ideal. Micro-scale results demonstrate periodicity of the flow and surface topography and this is consistent with the requirements of the HMM. The means of selecting micro-scale simulations based on intermediate macro-scale solutions, in the metamodeling approach, was developed for larger dimensionality and subsequent calibration. An analysis of the present metamodeling approach indicates improved performance in comparison to previous studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiphysics and Multiscale Models of Tribology)
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