Experimental study on the lubrication characteristics of water-lubricated rubber bearings at high rotating speeds

Abstract

A test rig is designed to study the lubrication characteristics of water-lubricated rubber bearings. The film pressure signal quality is improved by installing signal conditioners inside the hollow shaft. Four triaxial force sensors are adopted to measure the bearing load in two directions simultaneously. The experimental results show that the film pressure drops rapidly downstream of the minimum clearance. The water film can bear a certain negative pressure without cavitation. As the rotating speed increases, the valley value of the film pressure decreases, and the peak value increases. The increase of water supply pressure improves the hydrostatic pressure, thereby, the film pressure rises over the whole circumference. Different from the laminar flow, the bearing load increases faster as the rotating speed increases, indicating a turbulent flow at high rotating speeds.