Lubricated Sliding of a Rigid Cylinder on a Viscoelastic Half Space

We study the lubricated sliding of a rigid cylinder on a viscoelastic half space with a single characteristic retardation time. Besides the generalized inverse Hersey number beta, which is the sole parameter governing elastic lubrication, the viscoelastic lubrication solution depends on two additional dimensionless parameters: alpha and integral. alpha is the characteristic retardation time divided by the time for the rigid cylinder to move one contact width and f determines the strength of viscoelasticity. We have developed a numerical scheme to solve this viscoelastic lubrication problem. Our numerical results show that the total friction force can be decomposed into viscoelastic and hydrodynamic components. The viscoelastic component of the friction is well approximated by the dry limit in which the liquid layer is all squeezed out and the resistance to sliding is due entirely to viscoelastic dissipation. The hydrodynamic limit is well approximated by a modification of the elastic limit in which friction is due entirely to hydrodynamics. We also study the dependence of the hydrodynamic pressure, film thickness and the friction coefficient on these parameters.

Automated summary

In this study, we investigate the lubricated sliding of a rigid cylinder on a viscoelastic half space with a single characteristic retardation time using a numerical scheme. Our results show that the total friction force can be decomposed into viscoelastic and hydrodynamic components. We find that the viscoelastic component can be well approximated by the dry limit, while the hydrodynamic component can be approximated by a modification of the elastic limit. We also examine the effects of parameters on the hydrodynamic pressure, film thickness, and friction coefficient.