A Combined Theory for Turbulence in Lubricating Films

Several commonly used turbulent lubrication models are compared with the combined turbulent lubrication model. These models are applied to a pure Couette flow and a combined shear pressure flow with zero net flow rate to predict the velocity distribution under different Reynolds number. The calculating results based on these models are compared with existing experimental data. As the results, the calculated results based on the combined turbulent model agree well with the experimental ones. The combined turbulent model is also applicable to situations of low Reynolds number. Therefore, for lubricating films involving Reynolds numbers ranging from low to high values, this model could find promising application.