Efficient iterative methods for the nonlinear compressible Reynolds equation with Navier slip boundary condition

Abstract

In this study, we present a comparison of iterative methods for the compressible Reynolds equation with Navier slip boundary conditions, based on a fully compressible cavitation model for lubricated bearings. We establish the existence and uniqueness of the solution to the two-dimensional problem. We introduce the Kirchhoff transformation to reformulate the nonlinear density-pressure relationship into a quasi-linear problem. We develop an efficient numerical approach to solve the two-dimensional nonlinear problem. The methods examined are the Gauss-Seidel method, the Newton-Raphson method and parallelized nonlinear Jacobi method, applied to one- and two-dimensional slider bearing configurations. The overall solution time is shown to depend strongly on the choice of method.