A simple numerical algorithm for elastohydrodynamic lubrication, based on a dynamic variation principle (Q1181884)

Calculations of the pressure in the lubricating film between a deformable cylinder and a rigid surface can be performed on a PC using only a few gridpoints and a small amount of run time. Here, the numerical algorithm for this elastohydrodynamic lubrication problem is based on the dynamic variation principle, so that mass flux defects cannot occur. The dynamic iteration can be speeded up by reducing the stiffness of the cylinder in several steps and by slowly increasing the loading on the cylinder. The number of calculations needed for one time-step is reduced by the introduction of a preconditioner.