Efficient solver implementation for reynolds equation with mass-conserving cavitation

Abstract A global grid refinement solver implementation for the Iso-Viscous-Rigid Reynolds equation with cavitation (mass-conservation) using the Fischer-Burmeister equation for complementarity is presented and shows a quasi linear time complexity. The global grid refinement strategy allows a fast and stable convergence. It is applied to several examples of dimple textured flat/parallel surfaces in order to, first illustrate the algorithm performance, and second, to point out discretisation error issues which may occur for textured surfaces and justify the need of an efficient numerical method to solve such cases.