Study of tribological performances of compound dimples based on diatom shell structures

Influences of compound dimples, based on representative diatom shell structures, on tribological performances of parallel sliding surfaces are investigated with fluid-solid interaction (FSI) method. In doing so, compound dimples with two-level structures are modelled by imitating the multi-level pore structures of a diatom shell and then their tribological performances are solved with FSI method. Further, tribological performances are compared between compound and simple dimples, and among different compound dimple shapes. The numerical results show that the compound dimple can be preferable to the simple dimple in improving tribological performances of textured surfaces. Moreover, the cuboidal-spherical dimple can better enhance the load-carrying capacity and reduce friction of lubricant.