Starvation Effects in Elasto-hydrodynamically Lubricated Line Contacts

A lubricated contact suffers from starvation when the lubricant does not fill the contact inlet adequately. Such a situation arises due to short lubricant supply or at extremely high speeds. The starvation effect is modeled by shifting the position of the inlet meniscus towards the contact zone. The degree of starvation, so obtained, is plotted as a function of the position of inlet meniscus under different operating conditions. Various degrees of starvation are obtained by shifting the inlet meniscus from its fully flooded position toward the Hertzian contact zone. In this work, the effect of starvation on the two most important parameters necessary for EHL performance evaluation which are coefficient of friction and central film thickness has been studied at different loads and rolling speeds. Key word: Elastohydrodynamic lubrication, Film thickness, Coefficient of friction, Starvation, line contacts.