Research on Temperature Rise Characteristics Prediction of Main Shaft Dual-Rotor Rolling Bearings in Aircraft Engines

Abstract

Traditional aero-engine bearings rotate simultaneously with their inner and outer rings, which makes the temperature rise prediction model computationally large with low accuracy, and it cannot be accurately verified due to the means of testing. This paper presents a method for predicting the temperature rise characteristics of aero-engine bearings under composite load conditions. Firstly, the local method is used to calculate the heat generation from heat sources such as bearing spin, lubricant drag, and the differential sliding of steel ball and collar, respectively, then finite element modelling and steady-state thermal analysis are carried out for aero-engine bearings under the simultaneous action of axial and radial external loads, a double-rotor test setup is designed and the predictive model is validated, and finally, the influences of rotational speed and load on the temperature rise characteristics of the bearings are investigated. The study shows that the aero-engine bearing prediction model proposed in this paper has high accuracy; with the increase in the rotational speed of the inner ring of the bearing, the temperatures of both the inner and outer rings of the bearing increase significantly; the temperatures of the inner and outer rings of the bearing increase with the increase in the axial load, and the effect of the radial load on the temperature of the bearing is not obvious.