Partial Surface Texturing in Hydrodynamic Lubrication: A CFD-Based Investigation

Abstract

The present study investigates the effect of partial surface texturing, containing large number of micro-dimples, in lubrication mechanisms. A CFD model is applied to examine the influence of partial surface texturing on pressure and velocity distribution in the flow between mating surfaces with relative motion or pressure drop. Various texturing parameters were analyzed. The results indicate that the equivalent volume step model effectively simulates surface texturing for a wide range of parameters when the untextured surface is in motion or for pressure-drop-induced flows, as surface texturing is less effective than the equivalent volume step by a margin of under 20%. However, when the motion involves the textured surface, surface texturing is found to be significantly less effective than the equivalent volume step and may even lead to detrimental effects, as the gage pressure can be negative. Furthermore, the influence of different parameters of the dimples, such as dimple area density, texturing portion, aspect ratio and dimple depth, on the efficiency reduction of surface texturing compared with the step model is discussed.