A contribution to the modeling of tribological processes under starved lubrication

This paper presents a detailed modeling of fluid flow through a tribological interface under starved lubrication conditions. Here, for the starved situation it is assumed that the local gap between two topographies may only be partially filled. The respective fluid flow is governed by a balance of the occurring forces, which can be taken out of the Navier-Stokes equation. A respective algorithm is applied to a system with two ellipsoidal topographies moving against each other. The initial filling level is varied, and its impact on the pressure distribution and the flowing velocities is documented. The computations show a high nonlinearity of the state variables with respect to the initial filling level. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.