Transient contact-lubrication simulations: From full film to dry contact

Design optimization and failure prevention for critical power and motion delivery elements, particularly high power-density high-performance components, require a thorough understanding of interfacial phenomena. This is because most critical tribological components of heavy-duty machinery are subjected to asperity contact. Contact and mixed-lubrication analyses for conformal and counterformal interfaces and for a few typical rough surfaces are presented. Most of the results are illustrated using animation of the solution. Different surface roughness/finishing processes may greatly affect the pressure peak height, the subsurface stress, the load shearing, the friction, and the flash temperature. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 10th Annual Fuels and Lubes Asia Conference (Shanghai, China, 3/2-5/2004).