Simplified multigrid technique for the numerical solution to the steady-state and transient EHL line contacts and the arbitrary entrainment EHL point contacts

A simplified multigrid (MG) method is developed based on that presented by Venner et al. The full approximate scheme (FAS) right-hand side of the film thickness equation is ignored and only the Gauss–Seidel iteration is employed throughout the calculating procedure. The algorithm can be used in both steady state and transient isothermal line contact elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) analyses and can also be extended to solve the elliptical contact problem with arbitrarily directed entrainment, with high computational efficiency and good numerical stability. A unique method is proposed to tackle the entrainment direction of the elliptical contacts.