Lubrication approximation for fluids with shear-dependent viscosity

Abstract

We present dimensionally reduced Reynolds type equations for steady lubricating flows of incompressible non-Newtonian fluids with shear-dependent viscosity by employing a rigorous perturbation analysis on the governing equations of motion. Our analysis shows that, depending on the strength of the power-law character of the fluid, the novel equation can either present itself as a higher-order correction to the classical Reynolds equation or as a completely new nonlinear Reynolds type equation. Both equations are applied to two classic problems: the flow between a rolling rigid cylinder and a rigid plane and the flow in an eccentric journal bearing.