MODELISATION THERMOHYDRODYNAMIQUE D'UN LUBRIFIANT NON NEWTONIEN EN FILM MINCE

Fatima BOUYAHIA¹

 Mohamed HAJJAM²

Dominique SOUCHET²

Mohamed EL KHLIFI¹

¹ Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, UFR de Mécanique, Maroc

² Laboratoire de Mécanique des Solides,, France

Abstract. A numerical three-dimensional thermohydrodynamic model is developed to predict the non-Newtonian lubricant behavior for a slider bearing of different shapes. The generalized Reynolds equation modeling this type of flow is established using the concept of the Generalized Newtonian Fluids (GNF). The temperature field is determined by aid of energy equation. All dimensionless equations are discretized and solved by the finite difference method. The rheological models chosen in this study include Bingham, Hershel-Bulkley, Rabinowisch and the power-law. The Bingham and the Hershel-Bulkley laws are described using the approach proposed by Papanastasiou to hold uniformly in yielded and unyielded regions. The evolution of velocity, pressure and thermal fields, according to the lubricant characteristics, are presented and discussed. Comparisons are made with the Newtonian lubricant and some other recent non-Newtonian numerical works.

Keywords: non-Newtonian lubricant, hydrodynamic, thin films