Effect of the sliding-rolling ratio on the force chain properties of granular flow lubrication interfaces

Abstract

Purpose To further understand the granular flow lubrication mechanism in metal contact pairs, the effect of sliding-rolling ratio on the force chain properties was investigated. Design/methodology/approach The parallel inter-plate model of the granular flow lubrication was established with discrete element method. Then, the correlation law between sliding-rolling ratio and force chain evolution properties was calculated and analyzed with PFC2D software platform. Findings Numerical calculation results show that the dynamic fluctuation property of force chain is existed, and the shock frequency of it is increased with the increase of sliding-rolling ratio. The same evolution law is also occurred for the bearing rate of strong force chain in the initial expansion and final compression phases, and the opposite phenomena is obtained for the overall expansion phase. Moreover, the directivity of strong force chain is changed by the sliding-rolling ratio. With the increase of sliding-rolling ratio, the directivity of strong force chain is first tended to y-axis, and then inclined to the x-axis in the whole phases. The basic reason is that a clamping up and downward movement impact for the neighbor particles are the essence of the above phenomenon. Originality/value The main contribution of this work is to lay a theory foundation of interfacial lubrication mechanism with granular flow. Peer review The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-05-2023-0133/