A lubrication equation including slip velocity for hydrodynamic porous bearings in the lower turbulent regime — a perturbation approach

Abstract

A first attempt is made to analyse pressure development in the form of a new lubrication equation including slip velocity for finite self-acting hydrodynamic porous metal bearings operating in the turbulent regime (fully developed) with a single phase Newtonian incompressible lubricant. The derivation is based on the analogy of boundary layer theory wherein lubricant motion is treated as a generalized turbulent channel flow in which the impermeable wall is in motion and the porous wall is stationary. The type of flow varies from pure couette flow to shear flow coupled with codirectional and transverse pressure flow. A linearization (or perturbation) technique is used to decouple the two orthogonal flows by assuming that the shear stress in a finite bearing is a small perturbation of the shear stress valid for couette flow. Using Boussinesq's eddy viscosity formulation and the wellestablished power law as a universal law of wall, the governing pressure distribution equation is obtained from considerations of the conservation of momentum and continuity. The surfaces are considered to be hydrodynamically smooth. The whole treatment is approached from the viewpoint of fluid film design rather than from a fundamental fluid mechanics approach. No slip model has been used. The lubrication equation is fully analytical and can be applied to a number of particular bearing problems by using the simplifying restrictive conditions. The lubrication equation derived can be used to predict the bearing performance characteristics even in situations where the permeability of the bearings is anisotropic and the Poiseuille flow in the porous matrix does not obey Darcy's law.