Influence of micro-grooves on the lubrication performance of a misaligned bearing

Abstract

Surface texturing for improving the lubrication performance of journal bearings has been widely investigated in the last two decades. In practical applications, the misalignment of a journal bearing occurs due to the asymmetric bearing load, elastic deflection, manufacturing tolerances, and installation errors. However, there has been little discussion on the influence of grooves on the lubrication performance of misaligned bearings. In the present work, numerical predictions of lubrication performances are presented to test the influence of the grooves. Based on the JFO boundary condition, a mass conservation algorithm is implemented to automatically determine the position of oil film rupture and reformation. The load-carrying capacity, friction force, friction coefficient, and bearing moment are computed numerically. The influence of angular position of the groove is first conducted in a misaligned bearing. Subsequently, the groove depth and width are investigated with different values of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] ratios, respectively.