Influence of geometric shapes of recess on the performance of MR lubricated multi-recessed hybrid spherical thrust bearing

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the impact of different geometric shapes of recesses/pockets on the behavior of a multi-recessed hybrid spherical thrust bearing (MHSTB) configuration along with MR (magnetorheological) lubricant behavior. The analysis employs a finite element approach to assess the behavior of MHSTB configurations lubricated with MR fluids, with the MR lubricant's behavior modeled using the Herschel–Bulkley model. The governing equations are solved through Galerkin's discretization method combined with a suitable iterative technique. The study reveals significant variations in bearing performance when altering the magnetic field intensity and axial eccentricity ratio. The study explores various geometric recess shapes (i.e., elliptical, circular, triangular, and square) within the MHSTB configuration while maintaining same bearing operating and geometric parameters. Numerical simulations demonstrate that MHSTB systems operating with MR lubricant exhibit higher fluid film reaction and damping coefficients compared to Newtonian lubricant. Furthermore, it is observed that the elliptical recessed bearing configuration outperforms square, triangular, and circular recessed bearing configuration in terms of fluid film reaction and lubricant flow rate.