Effect of rotation in lubrication problems: Existence of more fundamental solutions (Q1083943)

The paper aims to extend the classical slider bearing lubrication problem to the case when both lubricant and bearing surfaces are in a state of rigid-body type rotation about an axis. Assuming that the rotation number M (defined as square root of the conventional Taylor number) is of small magnitude - this entails neglection of second and higher powers of M - the authors endeavour to obtain the generalized form of Reynolds equation. For the case when lubricant is incompressible and the bearing is stationary, the generalized Reynolds equation in one dimension is solved for two configurations, namely, (a) plane-inclined slider and (b) exponentially inclined slider. This way, the authors show the existence of more fundamental solutions, which are not otherwise allowed by the classical Reynolds equation. They attribute the existence of such solutions to the presence of a non- homogeneous term, depending on M, in the generalized Reynolds equation so derived. Some important results are discussed.