Numerical evaluation of wear parameters using meta-models

Wear parameters identified by linear friction tester (LFT) experiments overestimate the wear mass loss when applied on a laboratory abrasion & skid tester 100 (LAT100) simulation. On the other hand, the identification of wear parameters directly from the LAT100 experiment can be challenging since variables such as the contact area and the slip velocity are not measured experimentally and need to be assumed. To improve the identification process, numerical calibration is used as a more suitable approach. This approach relies on meta-models as a target function for minimization. The meta-models are generated using a sample of wear parameters applied to an LAT100 finite element modeling (FEM) to calculate the corresponding wear mass.. In this model, a transport velocity is defined for the rolling simulation, and an arbitrary lagrangian–eulerian (ALE) adaptive meshing approach is adopted for the wear modeling. For the wear model, a combination of archard’s wear model and schallamach’s abrasion law is used. This model contains a pair of wear parameters to be identified. The ALE adaptive meshing technique moves the nodes independently of the material. Since the mesh topology remains the same, failure of the simulation occurs if the wear volume loss exceeds that of the element. Meta-models are created to extend wear modeling beyond this failure. Once the meta-models are created, they are used as a target function for the minimization algorithm. The minimization algorithm aims to find the optimal wear parameters by minimizing the difference between experimentally observed and numerically produced wear mass loss. The minimization algorithm inputs a set of wear parameters into the meta-models which in turn yield a prediction of the wear mass loss. The process is carried out until an optimum parameter set is identified. Such an approach has a lower accuracy if the parameters are identified directly from the experiment using assumptions regarding the contact shear stress and the sliding velocity. Nonetheless, the main advantage of parameters identified using the meta-model approach is the usability of these parameters in an LAT100 model.