CFD analysis of hydrodynamic lubrication effects of micro textured surface

Abstract A great number of lubricated mechanical components everywhere in life. Improvement in efficiency would lead to greater cost savings in many engineering applications. In the present paper, an approach to increase the efficiency in hydrodynamic lubrication for applications in metal forming processes by surface texturing was studied using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation. A two-dimensional fluid domain containing a flat upper wall with a tangential velocity and a static lower wall containing an oblong groove of the same sizes was studied. This includes the effect of varying distances between grooves on lubrication. With an isothermal lubrication flow condition and parallel walls, the pressure in the lubricant domain produces largest load carrying capacity and wall shear force, indicating large contact area contributes to an increase of frictional force. The present study revealed that the positive influence on hydrodynamic lubrication performance can be achieved by introducing a textured surface. Larger distance between the grooves has effectively produced a pressure build-up in the lubricant domain introducing a larger load carrying capacity. It is seen that a load carrying capacity exists for a small distance between the grooves.