Time-varying reliability analysis method for micropolar fluid elastohydrodynamic lubrication

Reliable lubrication of a bearing means that the roller and bearing are separated by the oil film, resulting in less wear and longer life. During the bearing lubrication process, some particles are produced due to wear and other reasons. Generally, the particle size in the micropolar fluid gradually increases with time. Moreover, velocity and load of the bearing are uncertain. It is very important to consider the time-varying reliability of bearing lubrication. In this paper, a time-varying reliability analysis method for micropolar fluid elastohydrodynamic lubrication is proposed based on response surface method and first passage method. The response surface method is applied to construct the response function of minimum oil film thickness, and the reliability model of lubrication is developed by the film thickness ratio. Then, the reliability of lubrication is calculated by first passage method. The numerical results show that both the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method are high.