THE ELASTOHYDRODYNAMIC LUBRICATION OF LINE CONTACTS WITH PSEUDOPLASTIC FLUIDS

A new Reynolds equation, obtained by using the pseudoplastic model to express the non-newtonian fluid property, is derived for line contact elastohydrodynamic lubrication problems. The Reynolds equation results in a non-linear equation of high order which is derived by using an approximate method. The Newton-Raphson technique is utilized to solve the simultaneous system of modified Reynolds and elasticity equations. The results in this paper show that on increase in the coefficient of non-linearity, the pressure spike and film thickness decrease, and they approach a hertzian situation. With respect to the various loads and/or velocity values, the behaviours of the pressure spike and film thickness for non-newtonian fluids are almost the same as those of a newtonian fluid.