Numerical simulation and experimental investigation on tribological performance of micro-dimples textured surface under hydrodynamic lubrication

Abstract Aiming at establishing an effective and efficient optimization method of texture parameters to further enhance the tribological performance of mechanical equipment, numerical simulation and experimental studies were undertaken to assess the tribological performance of textured surface. Pressure distributions and velocity distributions of the lubricant flow were analyzed by three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic simulation to comprehensively understand the effects of geometric parameters and operating conditions. It is found that the tribological performance of the textured surface is significantly affected by the micro-dimple geometric parameters, and the optimum texturing geometric parameters are highly dependent on the operating conditions. The comparative tribological experiments of untextured and textured specimens were conducted, and the specimen with area density of 28.26% achieves a maximum friction reduction rate of 26.61% under the tested conditions. The numerical simulation and experimental results were cross-checked and consistent with each other to verify that the textured surface can achieve a remarkable friction reduction effect. The friction reduction mechanism is mainly attributed to the improvement of carrying capacity, lubricant reservation, contact area reduction and secondary lubrication. Results can provide theoretical guidance for the optimization of texture geometric parameters under different application conditions.