Computational methods with applications in tribology

Tribological interfaces govern friction, wear, efficiency and service life in bearings, gears, seals, engines, hydraulic systems and many other machine elements. This online course provides professionals with a modelling and simulation toolbox for contact mechanics, thin-film flows, and multiphysics lubrication problems, with an emphasis on derivation, numerical implementation, and critical assessment of computational results.

Target audience: Professionals, engineers, researchers and doctoral students who want to learn about mathematical models and computational methods used in tribology to obtain in-situ information about conditions in lubricated and non-lubricated contacts.

Prerequisite-knowledge: Basic knowledge of differential equations, fluid mechanics and strength of materials. Basic programming skills and/or some experience with numerical calculation methods in MATLAB, Python or similar.

Course content: The course provides insight into modelling and simulation of tribological processes. Main topics are contact mechanics, thin-film flows, multiphysics problems in hydrodynamic lubrication and wear modelling. More specifically, the course covers complementarity formulations for contact, elastic and elastoplastic contact modelling, discretisation of integral equations, FFT-based acceleration, derivation and numerical solution of Reynolds-type equations, finite difference methods for Poisson-type PDEs, simulations of flows in bearings, prediction of load-carrying capacity and minimum film thickness, boundary lubrication, Archard-type wear models and selected multiphysics/FSI applications.

How the course will be conducted: The course is conducted online in Canvas. It includes video lectures, the course compendium, hand-outs, self-correcting practice quizzes and assignments. Introduction and supervision meetings are offered online via Zoom, Teams or Skype.

Two implementations are offered: (1) self-study based on video recordings, the course compendium and a fully quiz-based examination; and (2) the same self-study component plus three assignments where self-developed calculation methods and technical reports are reviewed through a peer-review procedure, followed by an oral examination.

Dates and times for the online meetings: No fixed dates are proposed for the listing page. Introduction and supervision meetings are scheduled by agreement with the participants.

To pass the course you need to:

Implementation 1: Complete the self-study modules and pass the quiz-based examination. Implementation 2: Complete the self-study modules, pass the quiz-based components, complete three assignments including implementation, code submission and technical reports, participate in peer-review/discussion activities and pass the oral examination.

Presentation of the teacher: The course is led by Professor Andreas Almqvist, Division of Machine Elements, Luleå University of Technology. The course material is based on long-running LTU teaching and research in scientific computing, contact mechanics, lubrication theory and tribological modelling. Additional teachers or supervisors may be added depending on implementation and participant needs.