Multi-physics modeling of roller bearing raceway imperfections compared to electric measurements of an EHL point contact

Pitting Influence on Electrical Capacitance in EHL Rolling Contacts

“…This paper builds upon the work done by Neu et al [19,22] in the field of EHL and aims to further bridge the gap between the numerical data, that has been known for several decades, and the recent experimental data. The CFD model developed by Neu et al, in the simulation environment OpenFOAM, simplifies the rolling bearing as an analogous model of a parallel plate capacitor, as was already experimentally done [8,12,23].…”

“…Fig. 3 Calculation procedure [19] For the implementation of a load dependent displacement, the approach by Hartinger et al [25] has been adapted. During the calculation the initial gap height is adjusted by the height ∆h 0 according to equation 15, while the calculation advances in time ∆t.…”

“…The descriptive equations for the fluid and solid regions are state of the art for numerical calculations in tribology. A description of the electrodynamic part takes place according to the work of Neu et al [19]. In general, several equations are needed to fully describe the interacting electric and magnetic field of a system.…”

“…Numerical models of the elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) contact, however, are not bound to such simplifications. Work by Almqvist [18], Neu [19] or Singh [20] has already been able to overcome this limit of ideal contact surfaces. Although the duration of a numerical calculation is several orders of magnitude longer than that of analytical and semi-analytical models, the advantage of higher accuracy and more versatile boundary conditions becomes increasingly usable with increasing computing power.…”

“…The boundary conditions implemented in the simulations are based on the experimental work done by Martin et al [9] and the numerical work done by Neu et al [19]. The boundary conditions for density are zero gradient at all boundaries.…”