Kuwait University, Mechanical Engineering Department
ME 481: Tribology and Lubrication
Spring 2022
Project
Due Date: 2-June-2022
An automotive manufacturer has decided that to properly design their oil-lubricated contacts, they
will use Kuwait University, ME-481 class as a source to develop such a tool. However, they have
decided that to have confidence in their final numerical model for oil-lubricated slider bearing
designs, they will require the modelers to check their models with many intermediate steps. They
have also decided that they will check on the results and require interim reports on findings. The
interim results do not require a formal write-up of the findings; however, they have decided that
there are published results that the models should be compared against. In this modeling they have
decided to make the following assumptions:
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Newtonian Fluid,
Body forces are negligible,
Inertial effects can be neglected,
Squeeze motion is not a concern,
Pressure variation across the film is negligible.
The following is a list of interim results required.
1. Generate pressure distributions of fixed-incline slider bearing for a range of film thickness
ratios and compare to fixed-incline slider bearing results shown in Figure 8.7 of your
textbook. Also, include the findings for the effect of film thickness ratio on normal loadcarrying capacity, compare it to Figure 8.8 of your textbook. Figure 1 shows a fixed-incline
slider bearing geometry. (Due Date: 28-April-2022)
Figure 1: Fixed-incline slider bearing.
2. Generate dimensionless load-carrying capacities for a range of dimensionless film
thicknesses for five steps location (ns = 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9) and  = ¼, ½, 1, and 2 ( is
defined as pad length-to-width ratio). Compare your results to finite-width, parallel-steppad slider bearing results shown in Figure 9.2 of your text. Figure 2 shows a finite-width
parallel-step-pad slider bearing geometry. Discuss the findings. (Due Date: 15-May-2022)
3. Using results from part-2, generate 3D pressure distributions for a range of dimensionless
film thicknesses for three steps location (ns = 0.1, 0.5, 0.9) and  = 0.01 and 1. Discuss the
findings. (Due Date: 29-May-2022)
Figure 2: Finite parallel-step-pad bearing.
4. As a part of this project, you are to provide a well-written (font: times, size: 12, space: 1.5,
and one-inch margin on all sides) report of your findings. The report should discuss your
method and solution procedure with all relevant equations, as well as present and discuss any
differences between your model and the published results in a class presentation. (Due Date:
2-June-2022)
Note:
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Provide derivation of the governing equations and boundary conditions for each model.
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The project is an assigned teamwork (each group consists of maximum of four students).