Analysis of turbulence and blocking effects on loading capacity for elementary texture cells of infinite width under water lubrication

Abstract

PurposeThe loading mechanism of textures considering turbulence has not been fully covered. This paper aims to investigate the effect of turbulence on the textured loading capacity under water lubrication and to analyze the causes of the turbulence effect.Design/methodology/approachComputational fluid dynamic models with different textured shapes are established after validation. The transition shear stress transport (SST) model, which is suitable for predicting the transition process of fluid from laminar state to turbulent state, is adopted in the present study. To illustrate the effect of turbulence, the loading capacity of textures predicted by transition SST model and laminar model is compared.FindingsThe loading capacity is higher after considering turbulence because more lubricant enters into textures and the flow rate of lubricant to textured outlet increases. There exists an optimal textured depth ratio and density for loading capacity and the change of flow state would not affect the optimal values. The degree of fluid blockage at textured outlet has a dominant influence on loading capacity. As the textured shape changes to triangle or ellipse from rectangle, the vortices at the textured bottom move forward and the blockage at a textured outlet is enhanced, which makes loading capacity improved under the action of blocking effect.Originality/valueThe enhancement of the blocking effect is found to be crucial to the improvement of textured loading capacity after considering turbulence. Present research provides references to understand the loading mechanism of textures under turbulent conditions.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-04-2020-0149/