Analysis of EHL Circular Contact Shut Down

In this paper, an isothermal study of the shut down process of elastohydrodynamic lubrication under a constant load is performed. The surface mean velocity is decreased linearly from the initial steady state value to zero. The details of the pressure and film thickness distributions in the contact area are discussed for the two stages of shut down process, namely the deceleration stage and the subsequent pure squeeze motion stage with zero entraining velocity. The nature of the balance between the pressure, the wedge and the squeeze terms in Reynolds equation enables an analytical prediction of the film thickness change on the symmetry line of the contact in the deceleration period, provided that the steady state central film thickness relationship with velocity is known. The results indicate that for a fixed deceleration rate, if the initial steady state surface mean velocity is large enough, the transient pressure and film thickness distributions in the deceleration period solely depend on the transient velocity. The pressure and film thickness at the end of the deceleration period are then the same and do not depend on the initial steady state velocity. From the same initial steady state velocity, larger deceleration rates provide higher central pressure increase, but also preserve a higher film thickness in the contact area at the end of the deceleration period. Later in the second stage when the axisymmetric pressure and film thickness patterns typical of pure squeeze motion form, the pressure distribution in the contact area resembles a Hertzian contact pressure profile with a higher maximum Hertzian pressure and a smaller Hertzian half contact width. As a result, the film thickness is close to a parabolic distribution in the contact area. The volume of the lubricant trapped in the contact area is then estimated using this parabolic film thickness profile.