Computational analysis of the lubricated-sliding contact with artificial slip boundary

The hydrodynamic lubrication performance (load support, friction force, friction coefficient, and volume flow) at lubricated sliding contact is influenced by boundary condition. In the present paper, the effect of artificial slip boundary on the sliding surfaces is explored based on modified Reynolds equation using computational analysis. A design idea for an infinite sliding contact with the optimized artificial slip area is proposed. It is found that the generation of the artificial slip at the leading edge on the stationary surface of the contact gives the highest load support, which is helpful to improve the operation stability of the system. Optimization of the size of the slip area on the stationary surface can give many advanced properties compared with the classical no-slip surface, i.e., a reduction of friction and an increase of load support. It is also shown that if the artificial slip is employed on the moving surface, the system is in an unsteady state and no great importance exists in engineering applications.