An efficient numerical algorithm to solve hydrodynamic lubrication problems with cavitation

In this paper we present an efficient numerical algorithm to solve stationary problems of hydrodynamic lubrication with cavitation in bearings using the method of characteristics in a finite element framework. The problem is based on the Elrod–Adams mathematical model for the lubricant fluid behavior. To achieve realistic pressure solutions, cavitation must be considered. This leads to a non-linear system of equations including a multivalued operator. In order to solve this problem, we propose a modified Newton algorithm that presents a high convergence speed, allowing one to use small tolerances to solve the problem with high accuracy and efficiency using a low number of iterations, in comparison with alternative numerical algorithms in the literature to solve the same problem. Numerical results are presented and analyzed in the work.