Multi-scale design of new lubricants featuring inhomogeneous viscosity

Georgios Bletsos (), Konstantinos Gkagkas, Varvara Asouti, Evangelos Papoutsis-Kiachagias and Kyriakos C. Giannakoglou
Additional contact information
Georgios Bletsos: National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), School of Mechanical Engineering, Parallel CFD & Optimization Unit
Konstantinos Gkagkas: Advanced Technology Division, Toyota Motor Europe NV/SA, Technical Center
Varvara Asouti: National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), School of Mechanical Engineering, Parallel CFD & Optimization Unit
Evangelos Papoutsis-Kiachagias: National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), School of Mechanical Engineering, Parallel CFD & Optimization Unit
Kyriakos C. Giannakoglou: National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), School of Mechanical Engineering, Parallel CFD & Optimization Unit

The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, 2019, vol. 92, issue 9, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Friction accounts for approximately 15% of fuel energy losses in internal combustion engine vehicles. To reduce it, new lubricants should be designed. Particle-based simulations can provide insight into the lubricant behaviour under extreme contact conditions, at a high computational cost. On the other hand, continuum methods, while capable of efficiently solving macroscopic problems, cannot resolve features at the nano-scale, due to the breakdown of the continuum assumption. This paper presents a multi-scale approach combining continuum and particle-based descriptions for simulating hydrodynamic lubrication systems to design new lubricants minimizing specific friction. Inspired by studies on ionic liquids as lubricants, their layering behaviour is emulated in the continuum domain by introducing inhomogeneous viscosity in the Navier–Stokes equations. Using an evolutionary algorithm, an optimized viscosity profile, leading to a potential improvement in friction performance up to 65%, is identified for a converging hydrodynamic slider. The study is then extended to nano-hydrodynamic lubrication. Specific particle typologies, featuring the aforementioned viscosity variations, are selected using coarse grain molecular dynamics simulations. Through the appropriate tuning of the particles’ properties, viscosity inhomogeneity is achieved and friction is reduced compared to the homogeneous case. Graphical abstract

Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1140/epjb/e2019-100239-8 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

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:spr:eurphb:v:92:y:2019:i:9:d:10.1140_epjb_e2019-100239-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/10051

DOI: 10.1140/epjb/e2019-100239-8

Access Statistics for this article

The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems is currently edited by P. Hänggi and Angel Rubio

More articles in The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems from Springer, EDP Sciences
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().