CFD Analysis of water-based slipper bearing

Abstract

The leakage across the slipper land of a swashplate type axial piston pump is inherent in almost all the commercially available designs. This occurs due to the back flow of each piston through its orifice and gap between the slipper and swashplate. This flow phenomenon is studied in detail in the present work. To optimize pump performance with a reduced leakage, it is critical to know the fluid dynamics within the pump passages. In this paper, a three-dimensional CFD methodology has been created and employed to predict the pump performance in terms of pressure field, velocity vectors, and the flow pattern to understand pump flow. The methodology is established in the commercially available code ANSYS FLUENT 16.0 which supports the existence of complicated geometry in the form of narrow orifices and gaps between rotating and stationary walls. Slipper leakages, velocity and pressure fields are computed using simple algorithm approach at different designs and operating conditions. Experimental data of the film thickness is used in the present simulation. The effect of different piston pressure, slipper velocity, oil viscosity, slipper orifice diameter and slipper pool inner diameter is studied. Investigations of this kind may help for the development and design of slippers.