Analysis of lubricated normal contact of a rigid sphere on a viscoelastic halfspace
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Visco-elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication (VEHL) is a problem that is presentin various industries. Research in this domain exists primarily for elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) problems and not much work is available that focusses on VEHL problems. In the present work this has been addressed. The VEHL problem studied here is that of a relaxation test which involves a rigid sphere indenting a lubricated incompressible viscoelastic half space. This phenomenon is governed by the Reynold’s equation and the Green’s function of the material. The Green’s function for such a problem is not readily available for incompressible viscoelastic materials. Such a function is first derived using the relationship between the behavior of incompressible elastic and viscoelastic materials. Following this a numerical approach has been used to handle the non-linearity in the Reynold’s equation. The results of the model developed in this work are then validated using simulation and experimental data. Finally, the model is used to study the behavior of Polymethyl Methacrylate which exhbits viscoelastic behavior.