Inertia Effects on Film Rupture in Hydrodynamic Lubrication

Abstract

A perturbation analysis was made to study the effect of inertia on the film rupture in hydrodynamic lubrication using a modified Reynolds equation. A simplified boundary condition at film rupture proposed by Ota (1987) was employed. The theory was extended to investigate the wave number of the film rupture surface and to investigate the effect of gas bubbles included in the lubricant. Numerical calculations were carried out for a cylinder-plane bearing and are compared with previous experimental and numerical data. The effects of inertia on film rupture characteristics are clarified and the present numerical results are found to be in good agreement with earlier experimental data.