AUTHOR=Gray W. A. , Dwyer-Joyce R. S. TITLE=In-situ measurement of the meniscus at the entry and exit of grease and oil lubricated rolling bearing contacts JOURNAL=Frontiers in Mechanical Engineering VOLUME=Volume 8 - 2022 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/mechanical-engineering/articles/10.3389/fmech.2022.1056950 DOI=10.3389/fmech.2022.1056950 ISSN=2297-3079 ABSTRACT=
The lubricant inlet meniscus in a rolling element bearing acts as a reservoir that feeds the elastohydrodynamic contact, resulting in a sufficiently thick film to avoid wear. A shortening and/or thinning of the inlet meniscus towards the contact centre is an indicator of bearing starvation and impaired lubricant performance. This work introduces an ultrasonic method to measure meniscus dimensions. Using