Abstract
The novelty of the present study is that it investigates the effect of propeller shaft deflection, caused by the propeller self-weight and interfacial mixed forces, on the fluid–solid–heat (FSH) coupling performance of water lubricated rubber stern bearing (WLRSB). In the FSH coupling model, the generalized average Reynolds equation and the Kogut–Etsion asperity contact model are used to determine the hydrodynamic and the elastic–plastic contact behaviors of WLRSB. In the thermal analysis, the journal, water film, and rubber bushing are considered as an integrated system (JWR system) using the Euler method. To prove the correctness of the developed model, the predicted results are verified by comparisons with the experimental results given in the literature. In addition, to assess the effect of the force-driven deflection during FSH simulation, comparisons of the FSH predictions between the aligned journal case and the deflected journal case are carried out. The results indicate that, especially under a heavy load condition, the deflection of the stern shaft should be incorporated into the lubrication gap between the journal–rubber interface during the analysis of FSH performance of the JWR system.
Highlights
Water-lubricated rubber stern bearings, which are widely used in marine propulsion systems, have been attracting increasing attention owing to their excellent performance [1], such as low temperature rise, environmental friendliness, convenient assembly, etc
The viscosity of water is extremely lower than that of mineral oil, implying that the hydrodynamic lifting generated by a water film is typically not able to support the external load [3,4,5], and asperity contact occurs at the journal–rubber interface [1,6], which affects the mixed friction behaviors by the generated frictional heat and thermal expansion
A fluid–solid–heat coupling model for water lubricated rubber stern bearing (WLRSB) considering the deflection of the propeller shaft was built, and the proposed model was used to investigate the fluid–solid–heat performance of the JWR system
Summary
Water-lubricated rubber stern bearings, which are widely used in marine propulsion systems, have been attracting increasing attention owing to their excellent performance [1], such as low temperature rise, environmental friendliness, convenient assembly, etc. The viscosity of water is extremely lower than that of mineral oil, implying that the hydrodynamic lifting generated by a water film is typically not able to support the external load [3,4,5], and asperity contact occurs at the journal–rubber interface [1,6], which affects the mixed friction behaviors by the generated frictional heat and thermal expansion. The fluid field (from the hydrodynamic water film), solid field (from the asperity contact and elastic–thermal deformation), and thermal field (from the mixed friction heat) coexist (FSH coupling effect) at the journal–rubber interface. A multi-field coupling numerical analysis of the water-lubricated stern bearings is necessary to investigate their reliability and failure mechanism. Comprehensive theoretical works related to this topic are still limited
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