Multi-scale analysis of the roughness effect on lubricated rough contact

Determining friction is as equally essential as determining the film thickness in the lubricated contact, and is an important research subject. Indeed, reduction of friction in the automotive industry is important for both the minimization of fuel consumption as well as the decrease in the emissions of greenhouse gases. However, the progress in friction reduction has been limited by the difficulty in understanding the mechanism of roughness effects on friction. It was observed that micro-surface geometry or roughness was one of the major factors that affected the friction coefficient. In the present study, a new methodology coupling the multi-scale decomposition of the surface and the prediction of the friction coefficient by numerical simulation was developed to understand the influence of the scale of roughness in the friction coefficient. In particular, the real surface decomposed in different roughness scale by multi-scale decomposition, based on ridgelets transform was used as input into the model. This model predicts the effect of scale on mixed elastohydroynamic point contact. The results indicate a good influence of the fine scale of surface roughness on the friction coefficient for full-film lubrication as well as a beginning of improvement for mixed lubrication

A mesoscopic model for microscale hydrodynamics and interfacial phenomena: Slip, films, and contact angle hysteresis

We present a model based on the lattice Boltzmann equation that is suitable for the simulation of dynamic wetting. The model is capable of exhibiting fundamental interfacial phenomena such as weak adsorption of fluid on the solid substrate and the presence of a thin surface film within which a disjoining pressure acts. Dynamics in this surface film, tightly coupled with hydrodynamics in the fluid bulk, determine macroscopic properties of primary interest: the hydrodynamic slip; the equilibrium contact angle; and the static and dynamic hysteresis of the contact angles. The pseudo- potentials employed for fluid-solid interactions are composed of a repulsive core and an attractive tail that can be independently adjusted. This enables effective modification of the functional form of the disjoining pressure so that one can vary the static and dynamic hysteresis on surfaces that exhibit the same equilibrium contact angle. The modeled solid-fluid interface is diffuse, represented by a wall probability function which ultimately controls the momentum exchange between solid and fluid phases. This approach allows us to effectively vary the slip length for a given wettability (i.e. the static contact angle) of the solid substrate

Mutual influence of cross hatch angle and superficial roughness of honed surfaces on friction in ring-pack tribo-system

The cylinder bore surface texture, widely produced by the honing technique, is an essential factor for a good engine performance (friction, oil consumption, running-in, wear etc.). This explains the improvement and development of various new honing techniques. These different honing processes generate surfaces with various texture features characteristics (roughness, valleys depth, cross hatch angle, etc.). This paper addresses a comparison of ring-pack friction for cylinder surfaces produced by plateau honing and helical slide honing. It takes in consideration the mutual effect of superficial plateau roughness amplitude and honing angle. A numerical model is developed to predict friction within the cylinder ring-pack system in mixed lubrication regime. The results show the effectiveness of helical slide honed surface texture in comparison to plateau honed bore surface

Hydrodynamic structures of droplets in square micro-channels

This paper reports on numerical simulations of the hydrodynamics inside droplets in rectangular micro-channels. We use a finite-volume/front-capturing method that allows us to perform two- and three-dimensional simulations with a reasonable cost. The numerical method is an interface-capturing technique without any interface reconstruction. Therefore no complex or expensive interface tracking is needed. Droplet interface deformation and velocity fields inside both droplets and continuous phase can then be followed. This study leads to important results about droplet deformation and inner streamlines for mass and heat transfer studies. More particularly, the capillary number seems to have a great influence on the liquid/liquid flow hydrodynamics whatever is the channel width

Dynamic simulation of a peristaltic micropump considering coupled fluid flow and structural motion

This paper presents lumped-parameter simulation of dynamic characteristics of peristaltic micropumps. The pump consists of three pumping cells connected in series, each of which is equipped with a compliant diaphragm that is electrostatically actuated in a peristaltic sequence to mobilize the fluid. Diaphragm motion in each pumping cell is first represented by an effective spring subjected to hydrodynamic and electrostatic forces. These cell representations are then used to construct a system-level model for the entire pump, which accounts for both cell- and pump-level interactions of fluid flow and diaphragm vibration. As the model is based on first principles, it can be evaluated directly from the device's geometry, material properties and operating parameters without using any experimentally identified parameters. Applied to an existing pump, the model correctly predicts trends observed in experiments. The model is then used to perform a systematic analysis of the impact of geometry, materials and pump loading on device performance, demonstrating its utility as an efficient tool for peristaltic micropump design