The cavitation erosion damage process of dynamically loaded journal bearings

Abstract

The cavitation damage model was built using finite element analysis software MSC.Marc. This paper attempted to numerically analyze the action process based on damage mechanics when a jet created by bubble collapse acted on the bearing surface in the process of cavitation erosion. The numerical results show that the values of equivalent plastic strain and void volume fraction increase with time. The values of damage scalar are higher on the bearing surface and subsurface, and decrease when it approaches the interface of overlay and nickel layer. The strain history and damage evolvement of bearing material acted on by jet impact load can be calculated efficiently using the proposed method, which develops a new method of analyzing cavitation erosion failure of the bearing surface.