A Simplified Thermal Analysis of Elastohydrodynamic Contacts

Under elastohydrodynamic (EHL) conditions, the temperature in the contact zone determines the load resistance of the lubricant film. Therefore, an efficient assessment of the scuffing risks requires accurate contact temperature predictions. The work presented in this paper develops a simple and prompt temperature model exploitable within any thermal EHL modeling approach. The model incorporates a multilayer lubricant film representation for the heat equation solution. The developments also include an original heat repartition factor expression and a simple formula for handling intermediate values of the Peclet number. The rolling/sliding conditions in the inlet cause temperature rises that also affect the film resistance in the contact zone; this study proposes an inlet temperature rise equation. This formula offers temperature predictions in agreement with reference values. The contact zone temperature predictions for the line of contact problem under sliding/rolling conditions agree remarkably well with published numerical results; for the evaluations presenting the higher absolute difference, the correspondence remained over 94% and 95% for the maximum and mean temperatures, respectively. Both line and elliptical contact conditions were tested and compared to experimental data available in the literature. The analysis evidenced the precision of the estimates; thus attesting to the accuracy of the model under any contact conditions. Finally, the results indicate that, depending on the pressure and speed combination, the shearing zone may occupy around 30% of the film thickness.