This paper focuses on the mechanism of starvation and the thermal and non-Newtonian behavior of starved elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) in line contacts. It has been found that for a starved EHL line contact if the position of the oil-air meniscus is given as input parameter, the effective thickness of the available lubricant layers on the solid surfaces can be solved easily from the mass continuity condition, alternatively, if the later is given as input parameter, the former can also be determined easily. Numerical procedures were developed for both situations, and essentially the same solution can be obtained for the same parameters. In order to highlight the importance of the available oil layers, isothermal and Newtonian solutions were obtained first with multi-level techniques. The results show that as the inlet meniscus of the film moves far away from the contact the effective thickness of the oil layers upstream the meniscus gently reaches a certain value. This means very thin layers (around $1μm$ in thickness) of available lubricant films on the solid surfaces, provided the effective thickness is equal to or larger than this limitation, are enough to fill the gap downstream the meniscus and makes the contact work under a fully flooded condition. The relation between the inlet meniscus and the effective thickness of the available lubricant layers was further investigated by thermal and non-Newtonian solutions. For these solutions the lubricant was assumed to be a Ree-Eyring fluid. The pressures, film profiles and temperatures under fully flooded and starved conditions were obtained with the numerical technique developed previously. The traction coefficient of the starved contact is found to be larger than that of the fully flooded contact, the temperature in the starved EHL film, however, is found to be lower than the fully flooded contact. Some non-Newtonian results were compared with the corresponding Newtonian results.

1.
Wedeven
,
L. D.
,
Evans
,
D.
, and
Cameron
,
A. C.
, 1971, “
Optical Analysis of Ball Bearing Starvation
,”
ASME J. Lubr. Technol.
0022-2305,
93
, pp.
349
363
.
2.
Kingsbury
,
E.
, 1973, “
Cross Flow in a Starved EHD Contact
,”
ASLE Trans.
0569-8197,
16
, pp.
276
280
.
3.
Hamrock
,
B. J.
, and
Dowson
,
D.
, 1977, “
Isothermal Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication of Point Contacts, Part IV—Starvation Results
,”
ASME J. Lubr. Technol.
0022-2305,
99
, pp.
15
23
.
4.
Chevalier
,
F.
,
Lubrecht
,
A. A.
,
Cann
,
P. M. E.
,
Colin
,
F.
, and
Dalmaz
,
G.
, 1998, “
Film Thickness in Starved EHL Point Contacts
,”
ASME J. Tribol.
0742-4787,
120
, pp.
126
133
.
5.
Wijnant
,
Y. H.
, and
Venner
,
C. H.
, 1999, “
Contact Dynamics in Starved Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication
,”
Proceedings of the 25th Leeds-Lyon Symposium on Tribology
,
Elsevier Tribology Series
,
36
, pp.
705
716
.
6.
Damiens
,
B.
,
Venner
,
C. H.
,
Cann
,
P. M. E.
, and
Lubrecht
,
A. A.
, 2004, “
Starved Lubrication of Elliptical EHD Contacts
,”
ASME J. Tribol.
0742-4787,
126
, pp.
105
111
.
7.
Venner
,
C. H.
,
Berger
,
G.
, and
Lugt
,
P. M.
, 2004, “
Waviness Deformation in Starved EHL Circular Contacts
,”
ASME J. Tribol.
0742-4787,
126
, pp.
248
257
.
8.
Elrod
,
H. G.
, 1981, “
A Cavitation Algorithm
,”
ASME J. Lubr. Technol.
0022-2305,
103
, pp.
350
354
.
9.
Yang
,
P.
, and
Wen
,
S.
, 1990, “
A Generalized Reynolds Equation for Non-Newtonian Thermal Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication
,”
ASME J. Tribol.
0742-4787,
112
, pp.
631
636
.
10.
Yang
,
P.
, and
Wen
,
S.
, 1992, “
The Behavior of Non-Newtonian Thermal EHL Film in Line Contacts at Dynamic Loads
,”
ASME J. Tribol.
0742-4787,
114
, pp.
81
85
.
11.
Roelands
,
C. J. A.
, 1966, “
Correlation Aspects of Viscosity-Temperature-Pressure Relationship of Lubricating Oils
,” Ph.D. thesis, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands.
12.
Dowson
,
D.
, and
Higginson
,
G. R.
, 1966,
Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication, The Fundamentals of Roller and Gear Lubrication
,
Pergamon
,
Oxford, UK
.
13.
Carslaw
,
H. S.
, and
Jaeger
,
J. C.
, 1959,
Conduction of Heat in Solids
,
Oxford University Press
,
Oxford, Clarendon, UK
.
14.
Yang
,
P.
,
Jin
,
Z. M.
,
Liu
,
F.
, and
Dowson
,
D.
, 2004, “
On the Time-Dependent Thermal and Non-Newtonian Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication of Line Contacts Subjected to Normal and Tangential Vibrations
,”
Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng., Part J: J. Eng. Tribol.
1350-6501,
218
, pp.
71
82
.
15.
Venner
,
C. H.
, 1991, “
Multilevel Solution of the EHL Line and Point Contact Problems
,” Ph.D. thesis, Twente University, Enschede, Netherlands.
16.
Brandt
,
A.
, and
Lubrecht
,
A. A.
, 1990, “
Multilevel Matrix Multiplication and Fast Solution of Integral Equations
,”
J. Comput. Phys.
0021-9991,
90
, pp.
348
370
.
17.
Yang
,
P.
,
Qu
,
S.
,
Chang
,
Q.
, and
Guo
,
F.
, 2001, “
On the Theory of Thermal Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication at High Slide-Roll Ratios—Line Contact Solution
,”
ASME J. Tribol.
0742-4787,
123
, pp.
36
41
.
18.
Wang
,
J.
, and
Yang
,
P.
, 2003, “
A Numerical Analysis for TEHL of Eccentric-Tappet Pair Subjected to Transient Load
,”
ASME J. Tribol.
0742-4787,
125
, pp.
770
779
.
19.
Yang
,
P.
,
Qu
,
S.
,
Kaneta
,
M.
, and
Nishikawa
,
H.
, 2001, “
Formation of Steady Dimples in Point TEHL Contacts
,”
ASME J. Tribol.
0742-4787,
123
, pp.
42
49
.
20.
Wang
,
J.
,
Yang
,
P.
,
Kaneta
,
M.
, and
Nishikawa
,
H.
, 2003, “
On the Surface Dimple Phenomena in Elliptical TEHL Contacts with Arbitrary Entrainment
,”
ASME J. Tribol.
0742-4787,
125
, pp.
102
109
.
21.
Kaneta
,
M.
, and
Yang
,
P.
, 2003, “
Formation Mechanism of Steady Multi-Dimples in Thermal EHL Point Contacts
,”
ASME J. Tribol.
0742-4787,
125
, pp.
241
251
.
22.
Mostofi
,
A.
, and
Gohar
,
R.
, 1983, “
Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication of Finite Line Contacts
,”
ASME J. Lubr. Technol.
0022-2305,
105
, pp.
598
604
.
23.
Liu
,
X.
, and
Yang
,
P.
, 2002, “
Analysis of the Thermal Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication of a Finite Line Contact
,”
Tribol. Int.
0301-679X,
35
, pp.
137
144
.