On the Lubricant Flow and the Friction Coefficient in Partially Filled Gaps

Abstract: Starved lubrication is a friction regime in which the gap between the contact partners is not fully filled with fluid. It can serve as an important strategy for minimizing the amount of lubricant needed, and also inevitably occurs during idling and fail‐safe lubrication. In this regime, however, the flow of the lubricant and the related friction coefficients are yet to be fully understood. Strong non‐linear behaviour, transient influences and experimental limitations exist and hamper the creation of a comprehensive theory. This paper aims to make a fundamental contribution to the understanding of contact mechanics of partially lubricated contacts. A unique experimental setup with macroscopic asperities has been used to study the lubricant flow, the coefficient of friction (COF), and other variables over a wide range of parameters. Distinct friction behaviours were observed, for example the typical characteristic of the Stribeck curve. In addition to this well documented behaviour the experiments show a similar Stribeck‐like behaviour regarding the lubricant filling level in the gap. This proves and quantifies the expected fact that the friction regime can also be controlled by the fluid volume in the gap. To investigate this behaviour the fluid was evaluated with still images from the experiments. This study exhibits distinct flow patterns for different friction regimes of starved lubrication.

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: On the Lubricant Flow and the Friction Coefficient in Partially Filled Gaps ; volume:19 ; number:1 ; year:2019 ; extent:2 ; Proceedings in applied mathematics and mechanics ; 19, Heft 1 (2019) (gesamt 2)

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Stahl, Lukas ; Müller, Michael ; Ostermeyer, Georg-Peter

Further information

• DOI: 10.1002/pamm.201900078
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2022072207472096597510
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 15.08.2025, 7:33 AM CEST