A MIXED-FLOW MODEL FOR LUBRICATION WITH EMULSIONS

An oil-in-water emulsion in the inlet zone Of a concentrated contact i s modeled by treating the oil particles as flattened cylinders surroun ded by water. In an independent flow model, the oil and water flows ar e coupled only through the pressure gradient. However, the model leads to anomalous behavior with regard to the flow of water. To overcome t his problem, corrections to the pressure gradients due to interactions between the oil and water were derived. Both models showed that the e mulsion became concentrated because the higher viscosity oil was prefe rentially drawn into the conjunction. The net effect was similar to an inlet starved of oil. The inlet film thickness predicted by the inter active theory was in good agreement with Dow's experimental measuremen ts for an EHL contact.