Study of inertia effect on thermohydrodynamic characteristics of Rayleigh step bearings by CFD method

M Vakilian,Seyyed Abdolreza Gandjalikhan Nassab,Z Kheirandish

doi:10.1051/meca/2013065

M Vakilian, Seyyed Abdolreza Gandjalikhan Nassab + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1051/meca/2013065

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Journal: Mechanics & Industry	Publication Date: Jan 1, 2013
Citations: 4	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman

Abstract

This paper presents a numerical study about lubricant inertia effect on thermohydrodynamic (THD) characteristics of Rayleigh step bearings running under steady, incompressible and laminar condition. To reach this goal, the set of governing equations is solved numerically with and without considering the inertia terms. The discretized forms of the momentum and energy equations are obtained by the finite volume method and solved using the Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) technique. These equations are solved simultaneously because the dependency of lubricant viscosity with temperature. The hydrodynamic and thermal behaviors of the slider step bearings are demonstrated by presenting several figures including the lubricant pressure and temperature distributions with and without considering the fluid inertia effect. Numerical results show that inertia term has considerable effect on THD characteristics of step bearings, especially when they run with high velocity of runner surface.

Highlights

Hydrodynamic step bearings are widely used in industries to support axial loads efficiently
Discretized forms of the governing equations are obtained by the control volume method and solved by the SIMPLE algorithm
Numerical results show that THD characteristics of step bearings are affected by fluid inertia, and that lubricant pressure field is more affected than the lubricant temperature

Summary

Introduction

Hydrodynamic step bearings are widely used in industries to support axial loads efficiently. Many type of step bearings were theoretically studied in the 1950s by researchers in order to predict and improve their performances. M. Vakilian et al.: Mechanics & Industry 14, 275–285 (2013). Bearing length Upstream bearing length Downstream bearing length Heat capacity Friction force of bearing Upstream film thickness. Dimensionless temperature Runner velocity Velocity components u∗v∗ W xy x∗y∗. Dimensionless velocity components Load capacity of bearing Horizontal and vertical coordinates Dimensionless coordinates Greek symbols η

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