Oil replenishment mechanism of lubricated contact at low speed

As the lubricant layer on the raceway surface is constantly rolled and rolled by the rolling elements when a rolling bearing is in operation, its thickness gradually decreases and the rolling bearing consequently falls into a starved condition. In order to explain why a rolling bearing can still operate properly under staved condition for a long time, it is necessary to explore if there are some spontaneous replenishment mechanism in the rolling bearing. This paper built a distribution model of lubricant around the Hertz contact region with the consideration of the effect of capillarity and disjoining pressure on the mobility of lubricant based on the ball-disc contact model; then it is used to modify the EHL inlet oil supply condition. With this inlet condition, the unified Reynolds approach is utilized to simulate the film thickness and pressure distribution in a static or low-speed condition. The results show how the replenishment mechanism of capillarity and disjoining pressure improve the lubrication performance.