2023/04/10 by Suhaib Ardah, Francisco J. Profito, Ardah, Suhaib +5 · 3 citations
Engineering · #Computational Fluid Dynamics and Aerodynamics #FOS: Physical sciences #Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn) #Fluid Dynamics Simulations and Interactions #Tribology and Lubrication Engineering
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2304.04510
openalex publication_date 2023/04/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Tackling fluid-flow problems involving intricate surface geometries has been the catalyst for a plethora of numerical investigations aimed at accommodating curved complex boundaries. An example is the application of body-fitted curvilinear coordinate transformation, where the one-to-one correspondence of grid points from the physical to the computational domain is achieved. In lubricated interfaces, such conversion is challenging due to the complex governing equations in the mapped-grid, the numerical instabilities exhibited by their non-linearities and the severity of operating conditions. The present contribution proposes a Reynolds-based, finite volume fluid-structure interaction (FSI) framework for solving thermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication (TEHL) problems mapped onto non-orthogonal curvilinear grids in the computational domain. We demonstrate how the strong conservation form of the pertinent governing equations can be expressed in three-dimensional curvilinear grids and discretised using finite volume method to ensure fluid-flow conservation and enforce mass-conserving cavitation conditions. Numerical and experimental benchmarks showcase the robustness and versatility of the proposed framework to simulate a diverse range of lubrication problems, hence achieving a predictive computational tool that would enable a shift towards tribology-aware design.