A Simplified Model for Calculating Hydrodynamic Lubrication Film Thickness in Elastoplastic Line Contacts

The present paper proposes a simplified model for calculating hydrodynamic lubrication film thickness in elastoplastic line contacts. According to the Saint-Venant’s principle, the pressure in the contact is taken as uniformly distributed, this gives the contact surface elastic deformations in the inlet zone far away from the contact center close to real ones while gives those close to the contact center greater than real ones. This treatment is validated for hydrodynamic lubricated elastic contacts for relatively light loads and high rolling speeds. It gives the film thickness at the contact center a little higher than that calculated based on the real elastic model. The treatment is extended to a hydrodynamic lubricated elastoplastic line contact. The contact surfaces in the inlet zone are assumed as elastic and their deformations are calculated based on the uniform pressure distribution in the elastoplastic contact area. An inlet zone analysis is taken for obtaining the calculating equation of the hydrodynamic film thickness at the contact center. The equation overestimates the central film thickness but gives a satisfactory film thickness prediction for the heavy load which gives significant plastic deformations in the elastoplastic contact. It is found that when the load is lighter than 0.6 w _pc , the contact can be taken as elastic when calculating the central film thickness, while when the load is heavier than 0.6 w _pc , the contact can be taken as fully plastic; Here w _pc is the critical load for the contact fully plastic deformation. The plastic deformation in an elastoplastic line contact is found to reduce the hydrodynamic lubrication film thickness in the contact. This reduction is greater for higher rolling speeds and heavier loads. However, it is significantly dropped with increasing surface hardness.