Numerical Investigations of Tribological Characteristics of Biomimetic-Textured Surfaces

Cheng Wang (), Jianlin Cai (), Gong Cheng, Jiaxu Wang and Dongxing Tang
Additional contact information
Cheng Wang: College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
Jianlin Cai: College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
Gong Cheng: School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Chongqing Industry Polytechnic College, Chongqing 401120, China
Jiaxu Wang: College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
Dongxing Tang: College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 17, 1-16

Abstract: Rail transportation has dramatically improved travel convenience, but it has also led to environmental pollution and energy consumption issues. These challenges can be partially addressed by reducing friction loss in the mechanical transmission of rail systems. This paper examines the tribological properties of bionic-textured surfaces inspired by snake- and sharkskin. This study focuses on generating bionic textured surfaces with randomly distributed peaks through numerical simulation and connecting them to a transient Reynolds equation and friction fatigue model. The bionic surface wear lubrication model considers the lubricating film’s thickness and contact pressure obtained from the GT model. The results reveal that the existence of a bionic texture can reduce the friction coefficient and wear amount on the contact surface. The findings of this study not only offer a potential solution for reducing energy consumption and emissions in intelligent rail transit systems but also hold promise for providing further insights into the numerical simulation of bionic weaving and the investigation of tribological characteristics.

Keywords: rail transit; energy saving; emission reduction; biomimetic textured surfaces; numerical model; wear; friction coefficient (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/17/13054/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/17/13054/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:17:p:13054-:d:1228656

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().